While the Interior Minister Roberto Maroni is reflecting about why the EU Court of Justice has rejected the rule which introduced the crime of illegal immigration in Italy, West, months ago, without awaiting the ruling of the courts of Luxembourg, had indicated problems associated with this measure in an article that we republish today for our readers. It is well known that the offence of illegal immigration was introduced in Italy by law 94 of July 15 2009 as part of the so called “security set of laws”. Less then a year after, it is still impossible to determine, on the basis of definite data, the deterrent consequences of the criminalisation of  illegal entry on the Italian territory. Doubts on the matter are still many. Illegal immigration is considered an offence also in other European countries (France, United Kingdom, Switzerland etc.) but only in Italy it is compulsorily linked to a criminal act. Thus, every time that an illegal immigrant is detected on the territory, the judicial process is automatically started, even if carried out  by peace officers, with high direct and indirect costs – the subtraction of human and financial resources to other issues. On the contrary, in other legal [...]

Columnist of the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, professor at the faculty of Politics at the University of Milan, Maurizio Ferrera dedicated a large part of his career to study and analyse welfare evolution in Italy and Europe.  In this talk he gives our readers a portrait in light and shadow of the welfare State in the old continent. Immigration seems to create problems to the welfare state and to mine social democrats parties’ strength, that on it had built up their success. Right movements seem to provide solutions more appreciated by the voters. The recent Swedish case is emblematic in this sense. Are we now watching a redefinition of the relationships between right and left, where immigration is the  motivating factor? I believe that the impact of immigration is one of the most relevant reasons to explain the fall of social democracy appeal and of centre-left parties in European countries, because, as you said, a period of crisis and a growing economic polarization between low and high skills could bring the lowest classes, which are more damaged by internationalization and globalization processes, to vote those parties and groups that traditionally have tried to improve lower classes conditions. The problem [...]

With relation to the expulsion of Roma people on behalf of France, a recent meeting of several Secretaries of the Interior in Paris has evoked the issue of the expulsion of EU citizens. Directive 2004/38 foresees, at article 7, the citizens of member States that move to another member State must prove to have a medical insurance and enough financial resources to support himself and his relatives, so as to not represent a burden for the welfare system of the country of host. While the expulsion measures, limiting the freedom of circulation of EU citizens, are disciplined by article 27 and refer to the threats to the law and order, to public safety or to the public health system and not to the economic reasons pointed in article 7. This is the problem raised in Paris given the fact that the country of host has no effective expulsion instruments towards those citizens that do not respect the conditions envisaged by directive 2004/38 at article 7 but do not belong to the type of violations mentioned by article 27. In fact the decision to turn to the national welfare system to supply the lack of personal resources must be evaluated together with other elements (duration [...]

The publication of the latest Eurostat data on  naturalization in the EU-27 during 2008 paves the way for a reflection that can be pushed back, even though with very general considerations at least until 2006. The data regarding the single countries that appear to be quite heterogeneous are more interesting than the aggregate value. In fact, there are no common European rules for the achievement of EU citizenship, they originate from the laws for national naturalizations. The result is a significant variability among Member States, direct reflex of systems and national political  choices that make it more or less harder for a foreigner to became citizen. European Union’s citizenship is automatically associated to the citizenship of one of the Member States and, even though it implies its own rights, it does not replace it. Beyond the absolute values, the most interesting datum – and comparable one  – to detect the opening and closure of the citizenship law is the number of citizenship’s achievements every 1000 foreigners. The European average for 2008 amounts to 22,  it is on the decrease if compared to 24,3 in 2007. if we integrate this value with the proportion of those who were already in possession of [...]

Within the heated discussion ignited in Italy by the 2008 “security package”, which made illegal immigration a crime, the Constitutional Court is now issuing a sentence. What is it all about? The sentence supplies a clarification of a controversial and complex aspect. The Constitutional Court has established the impossibility to overlap the aggravation for illegal immigration and the crime of illegal immigration, it being understood that reasons will have to be published. Basically, when speaking of the offence of illegal immigration, it must not be turned into an aggravation of another crime. In fact, a number of Justices of the Peace (JPs) had raised the questions of constitutionality for both the introduction of the aggravation of illegal immigration and, above all, with regard to the offence of illegal immigration. The unconstitutionality had mainly to do with the article 3 of the Constitution. According to the principle of equality, foreigners could be charged of such offence in situations that are very dissimilar one from another: foreigners that illegally entered the Italian territory and are committed to criminal activities, foreigners that entered illegally but subsequently candidly accepted to be integrated, foreigners that entered the territory for short periods and then remained longer than [...]

It is well known that the offence of illegal immigration was introduced in Italy by law 94 of July 15 2009 as part of the so called “security set of laws”. Less then a year after, it is still impossible to determine, on the basis of definite data, the deterrent consequences of the criminalisation of  illegal entry on the Italian territory. Doubts on the matter are still many. Illegal immigration is considered an offence also in other European countries (France, United Kingdom, Switzerland etc.) but only in Italy it is compulsorily linked to a criminal act. Thus, every time that an illegal immigrant is detected on the territory, the judicial process is automatically started, even if carried out  by peace officers, with high direct and indirect costs – the subtraction of human and financial resources to other issues. On the contrary, in other legal orders, governments can from time to time choose the most proper and effective options and turn to administrative or if necessary penal measures. The sanction foreseen for the offence of illegal immigration is pecuniary – it would be a paradox to foresee detention, that would cause the effect opposite to the desired one, that is the permanence [...]