Interview
MP Riccardo Magi: With Meloni’s Albania plan flopping, she’s lashing out at judges
‘The latest rulings, particularly from Catania, strike at the heart of the notion of generalized detention for border procedures. This is a huge deal from a legal point of view: the whole framework built by the government for Albania is dead on arrival.’
We spoke with Riccardo Magi, member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and leader of the +Europe party, about Georgia Meloni’s failure to plan and negotiate a legitimate plan for migrants.
Mr. Riccardo Magi, the courts in Palermo and Catania have rejected the detention of asylum seekers, on different grounds, but ones which are also applicable to the detention centers in Albania. Interior Minister Piantedosi says he is “not afraid of appeals.” Isn't that odd?
The latest rulings, particularly from Catania, strike at the heart of the notion of generalized detention for border procedures. This is a huge deal from a legal point of view: the whole framework built by the government for Albania is dead on arrival. The judges' decisions give official sanction, based on reasoned arguments, to a fact that we have raised in Parliament many times: the list of “safe countries” from the Foreign Ministry's decree is unreliable, as it includes countries such as Egypt or Tunisia, where systematic human rights violations are taking place. Piantedosi is displaying all his incompetence on the subject. His calm reaction only presages the government's upcoming propaganda move when faced with the failure of their strategy: attacking the judiciary and accusing it of being subversive.
Do you think the government is banking on the failure of a project that Meloni has invested so much in only to lash out at judges?
It’s not that it’s banking on its failure, but the government knows that it will have to reckon with the fact that such a solution is not feasible in practice; all the elements are already there. In Albania, the only option would be detention. Beside the safe countries issue, one of the main reasons for the rejection by the courts of the detention of asylum applicants is that it has to be argued on a case-by-case basis. Otherwise, it would violate EU law. In Albania, it can only be done across-the-board.
If the project fails, this would deal a serious blow to Meloni image-wise.
Her problem is that she went into government promising an impossible blockade of the sea, and then ended up accepting the terrible EU pact on migration and asylum, which risks turning Italy into the refugee camp of Europe. Looking for a loophole, she invented the detention centers in Albania, which don’t hold water in procedural and legal terms. Now she needs to justify the enormous waste of public resources, almost a billion euros.
The judiciary has been clearing the NGOs of all charges, it has sent Salvini to trial, and has now rejected the detention of asylum applicants. In a democracy, can the right implement the policies it was voted for?
This is an extremely sensitive and important issue. All governments that have received the confidence of Parliament in a legitimate manner must be able to implement their policy goals, but no one can consider themselves above justice and the law. This issue is decisive in the matter of depriving someone of liberty, especially if no crimes have been committed and one is only waiting for the outcome of an administrative procedure. In any case, well-reasoned decisions from the judicial authority are needed, otherwise it would be a serious blow to the Constitutional rule of law.
Labour's Starmer won the election by moving his party to the center, and after two months is now taking lessons on immigration from Meloni. Is it acceptable for those who present themselves as an alternative to the right to fail to come up with their own proposals?
We have also seen this dynamic in previous years among part of the Italian left, back when it was in government; afterwards, with difficulty, it reached the point of criticizing its own policies. Now the same thing is happening in Starmer's UK and Scholz's Germany. The basic error that led the progressive forces down a blind alley was that they gave up on addressing the issue at the EU level. For example, by reforming the Dublin regulation with a compulsory redistribution of applicants. The MEP gave their approval for this twice, and the Council turned it down both times.
You have launched a referendum proposal for citizenship reform. What are you calling for?
The reform project has been stalled for the past four legislatures. Tajani's summer proposal on ius scholae is by his own admission even more restrictive than the current law. Instead, our referendum calls for a return to the pre-1992 rule, changing the 10-year requirement of legal and continuous residence to the previous five years. The change would affect 2.2 million adults and 500,000 minors. They are regular people, taxpayers, workers, students, who speak Italian and have chosen to live here. Italians can add their signature online until September 30.
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/il-deputato-riccardo-magi-centri-in-albania-gia-falliti-meloni-incolpera-i-giudici on 2024-09-19