Piantedosi: 'On passports a breakthrough for users. Security, cities are not unprotected".

The contract for the centres in Albania was awarded to the cooperative Medihospes, which has been in the crosshairs of several investigations in the past. Will the ministry check? When will the centres open their doors?

The government's goal is to open them as soon as possible. An innovative model that will be able to play an important role in the fight against irregular immigration and which many European countries are looking at with interest. The procedures initiated by the Viminale for their management were concluded on schedule, on 6 May. Thirty economic operators were interested, from which three were selected. The company referred to is the only one that subsequently submitted a bid. The award of the tender was of course only made after the outcome of the checks on the possession of the legal requirements. Checks which, as always, will also be very thorough in the execution phase.

After the attacks on officers in Milan, Mayor Sala said that deportation decrees are a farce and the government's immigration decrees are just slogans.

We have always had a fruitful dialogue with the mayor of Milan, which I do not find in such simplistic statements, perhaps to be framed in the pre-election period. We have a general programme to strengthen the expulsion system, which is already yielding initial, albeit still limited, results. But we count on making a bigger difference within the year. There have also been allusions to an inadequate police presence in the most critical contexts, such as those of the stations: but the very episodes that have occurred recently, which have seen police officers engaged in the defence of citizens as protagonists, if not victims, contradict the narrative of an unprotected territory.

Page Pnrr. This is the year in which actual spending is expected to take off. The risks of criminal infiltration remain high and the latest investigations, from Venice to Genoa, do not reassure.

We have already strengthened our operational models to prevent and counter attempts to infiltrate the Pnrr spending mechanisms. In October, I adopted a decree that provides new tools to Prefectures and inter-agency anti-mafia groups to strengthen controls, without compromising the speed of procedures.

The Pnrr 4 decree introduced changes to the EU anti-fraud and anti-mafia legislation. Can you explain what is new?

In particular, the catalogue of 'sentinel offences', from which the existence of attempts to infiltrate the company can be deduced, has been modified. Some more serious tax offences with fraudulent connotations have been added. Many judicial events have in fact highlighted the need to increase attention on the front of economic-financial crimes, committed to give apparent legality to flows of illicit origin and to evade the tax authorities through massive frauds, especially in the field of VAT and tax credits linked to building bonuses.

About the anti-mafia, on these pages we have published all the updated data on confiscated assets: destinations have increased by 265% since 2020, but there are still 22,451 properties (19,615) and companies (2,836) in the belly of the national agency. What is your plan?

We are working to strengthen the presence of the State where criminal pressure is greatest and to return to the community the assets taken from the clans. In 2023, 4,647 assets were allocated to local authorities or third sector entities for social or institutional purposes, an increase of 57.74% compared to the previous year. In the first quarter of this year, 918 assets were already earmarked, 81.4% more than in the same period of 2023. An Extraordinary Commissioner was appointed a few days ago to valorise, with dedicated funds, the assets assigned to local authorities.

Since 7 October, Italy has increased its anti-terrorist surveillance. Which risks are you most concerned about?

We have strengthened all prevention activities by law enforcement agencies operating in close coordination with intelligence. The situation is constantly monitored in order to update risk profiles with respect to the possible repercussions of international tensions, with particular regard to potential actions by 'lone wolves'. Attention is also maximised on the front of irregular migratory flows. Since 7 October, 58 subjects have been expelled for risks related to terrorism and radicalisation.

On Monday (tomorrow, ed.) there will be a meeting of the Committee for Order and Security dedicated to the situation in the universities, where pro-Palestinian protests and occupations and demands to stop collaborating with Israel are spreading. Do you fear an escalation?

The Middle East crisis has fuelled a broad public debate with an increase in demonstrations, over 1,400 since 7 October. The critical circumstances have always been handled with balance and professionalism by the police. Our choice has been not to prohibit moments in which the free exchange of ideas takes place, in the squares as in the universities. A confrontation that, however, has as a necessary prerequisite the respect of everyone's positions and the rejection of any form of prevarication and violence. We are extremely careful to prevent the infiltration of demonstrations by individuals who attempt to instrumentalise dissent and thus feed a dangerous strategy of tension.