Those days when in the ranks of the majority were immortalized smiles for him seem distant dismantling of security decrees of Salvini and the approval of new ones with measures aimed at opening ports to migrants. It took only a month to question everything and breathe an atmosphere of voltage. What happened in the meantime? The incessant arrival of migrants and the terrorist attacks in Europe are calling into question the choices made so far by the government.
The wave of landings overwhelms the autumn
The summer just passed was characterized by the impressive arrival of the migrants and the difficulties in managing the system hospitality by the government. An impressive flow that exceeded the numbers recorded in 2019 by three times. There are 27,190 foreigners who have arrived on Italian territory to date compared to 9,649 in 2019. The continuous landings of non-EU citizens along the coasts have made it difficult to manage the reception not only for the important numbers but also for the problem linked to the health emergency. And the history of migratory flows teaches that if the weather conditions are optimal, it will certainly not be the official end of the summer season that will block journeys that have the African continent as a starting point and Sicily as a landing point. Just what is happening in the last few days. Autumn on the coasts of southern Italy is experiencing a rather mild climate, a condition that has registered within a few days the arrival of almost 2 thousand migrants in Lampedusa. Those who live on the island know these well dynamics unlike the government that perhaps underestimated them.
The alarm bell rings for Di Maio
It was not only the landings that characterized the last few days, but also two attacks terrorists in Europe in a short time. The first a Nice in the Notre-Dame Cathedral, the second to Vienna with attacks at various points in the city center. Find out that the Nice bomber was a Tunisian who arrived in France after a landing in Lampedusa, raised controversy about the safety mechanism. And then here is the Foreign Minister, like an alarm bell suddenly sounded Luigi Di Maio reacted by asking for measures safety more for the protection of the Italian borders. The minister used terms that, were it not for his membership in the Five Stars, would appear to be pronounced by a member of the right-wing party. Di Maio put forward the need for “Raising attention to illegal migratory flows as the Interior Ministry is rightly doing“. Migrants for the pentastellato minister “They represent a risk, you need realism. I was the first -he said- to talk about a problem on the merits and this problem must be solved. If a country does not have the resources to assist, then it cannot welcome, otherwise the outcome is an exasperation of social exclusion. We are sick and they are sick”.
And now the Democratic Party fears surprises
The last statements of the Foreign Minister certainly did not go unnoticed on the opposite side of the majority. Centrists and Democrats have begun to fear that Di Maio wants to color the current coalition in a different way, with the yellow of the Five Stars ever closer to the Green of the League: “He has always had the goal of breaking free from the Democratic Party on immigration issues – is the voice whispered by the corridors of Montecitorio by sources close to the majority – Now he is exasperating the situation“. A suspicion made explicit in recent days in a statement by the secretary of + Europe, Benedetto Della Vedova: “Di Maio wants to change Italy’s posture on migrants – said the deputy – Said thus, it can only mean one thing and that is to return to Salvini’s posture that Di Maio, who invented the ‘sea taxi, evidently regrets as a partner in government.“.
An all-round attack therefore towards the Minister of Foreign Affairs, criticized also from Matteo Orfini: “Today, like any Salvini, Di Maio explains that we must defend the borders from migrants – said the deputy of the Democratic Party –and I draw a merciful veil over his proposal for a European patriot act, inspired by the American model“. For now, Zingaretti and the upper echelons of the dem preferred not to comment, their statements have not been recorded. But the irritation begins to wiggle and be evident. The goal, according to sources from the majority, is to wait for the issue to settle as soon as possible, avoiding tears.
On immigration, the government still risks falling
If it is true that luck favors the bold, then within the government, audacity is not the strongest element. Because the current executive also had a bit of bad luck. Usually, after the summer “floods”, the migratory flows in autumn decrease. And as a result, any immigration controversy is postponed to spring. Just this year, in which the Giallorossi majority needed to see the migration issue downsized, sea conditions favored a surge in landings and the attacks in Europe highlighted the link between immigration e safety. In short, the dust under the carpet has become cumbersome and impossible to hide.
The “pax”Tied to you decrees security was alone provisional. The internal agreements to the majority only served to trip Salvini out of the way, removing the rules that the former Minister of the Interior signed, but subsequently the quarrel has returned to immigration. Di Maio’s “tantrums” are not isolated episodes. The pressure on the Italian coasts is very strong, the majority do not know how to remedy and the visions between grillini and dem appear at the antipodes. And in the coming weeks on immigration, the executive could falter again.
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