Immigration, the government tightens up on the bill and takes stock of the naval blockade

The immigration bill arrives today, Wednesday 11 February, at 5.30 p.m. on the table of the Council of Ministers. Last night no text had yet arrived at the Colle for the usual interlocution linked to the constitutionality screening of the regulations. But this morning Palazzo Chigi issued the agenda in which the Ddl with the new regulations on migrants appears.

As anticipated on Saturday, the government's intention is to pass a Decree with a double soul: on the one hand, the measures taken out of the security package dismissed by the Cdm (and stopped at the State Accounting Department to verify the coverage); on the other hand, the proxy for the implementation of the EU Pact for migration and asylum, which will come into force in June, but which, with yesterday's vote by the European Parliament, will see the debut in advance of the new measures on safe countries of origin and safe third countries, very dear to the government also for the relaunch of the Albania operation (see page 12) and in fact applauded by the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, and by the entire majority as the fruit of the "turning point" impressed by Giorgia Meloni's Italia.

An Italy that wants to arrive very ready for the appointment: in the draft bill there is precisely the transposition into domestic law of the concept of 'safe third country', which will allow EU states to immediately define an asylum application as inadmissible when applicants could have sought protection in a non-EU country considered safe for them.

But the spotlights are mainly on the rest of the measure (see Saturday's Il Sole 24 Ore), first of all on the naval blockade, i.e. the possibility of a ban of up to thirty days, extendable up to six months, on crossing the limit of territorial waters, envisaged in four cases: risk of acts of terrorism or infiltration, exceptional migratory pressure, global health emergencies and international events. For migrants on board banned ships, the option is provided to be taken to safe third countries with which Italia has agreements (Albania, precisely).

The measure has been in the balance all day and in technical meetings the alternative of postponing it to another vehicle has been considered. But for now the executive is trying to hold the line. It is more likely that the 'Save-Almasri' rule, which is already highly contested, will be skipped: it is the faculty to order the handing over to the State of origin of persons whose stay in Italy could compromise national security or the integrity of international relations.