The EU, Italy and the Problem of Immigration

It has taken the horrible rape and murder of Giovanna Reggiani, the wife of an Italian Naval officer, and the reaction of the average Italian to bring to the fore the problems of immigration in Italy and, by association, throughout the EU. EU law, dating back to the 1957 treaty of Rome, provides for freedom of movement for the citizens from each member country. Further, both freedom of movement and freedom from mass deportation are rights written into the European Convention on Human Rights.

The accession of Romania to the EU a few months ago opened the flood gates for Romanians to relocate throughout the EU. While the bulk of the new immigrants were merely seeking a better life for themselves, a significant portion of the criminal class in Romania apparently tagged along. The influx of Romanians has resulted in a crime wave in both Britain and Italy. For example, more than 75 per cent of offences in Italy's captial have been carried out by Romanians since they arrived in the country.

Up to this point, it was thought that EU law would essentially tie the hands of the EU members to deal effectively with the immigrants. That will all be challenged by what is occurring in Italy today. The Daily Mail has an exceptional article on matter:

. . . For months, local people had been complaining that the city was being over-run by Romanian criminal gangs. The politicians did not respond.

But what happened during the 30 minutes after Giovanna Reggiani stepped down from her train at Tor di Quinto finally forced Italy's politicians to listen - and could prompt one of biggest shake-ups in the history of recent European immigration.

As Signora Reggiani started walking alone up the unlit, pot-holed road, a man emerged from near the bonfires at the camp in front of her.

He was Romulus Mailat, an immigrant who four months earlier, following Romania's entry into the European Union, had legally crossed the border into Italy.

He launched a coldblooded, sustained attack on the immaculately dressed housewife.
He smashed a rock into her face again and again, then carried her over his shoulder to some wasteland where she was brutally sexually assaulted and had 20 Euros (£13) taken from her purse.

. . . Barely alive, she was placed on a life support machine at Saint Andrea hospital where she remained in a coma for two days until the machine was switched off last weekend.

. . . The people of Italy are no longer prepared to wait for answers. Amid fury over the soaring number of murders, rapes and robberies by Romanians, the sole topic of conversation among many Italians throughout the city last week was the growing threat posed by stranieri (immigrants) and dark talk of vengeance.

It did not remain talk for long. By last night, a week of violence showed no sign of abating after a spate of bombings and attacks by armed gangs, many of them joined by older, middle-class people, who roamed the streets of Italy looking for Eastern European immigrants.

Leaping from their scooters, one group rounded on four Romanians begging outside a supermarket in the centre of Rome, beating them with sticks and stabbing them. The Romanians were left unconscious; and they are still in hospital.

As other Italians doused immigrant shacks with petrol and set them ablaze, scores of Romanians were knifed in scenes repeated from Milan to Naples.

In one incident, a 14-yearold Romanian boy was attacked by other youths, who hit him over the head with rocks in the same way that Giovanna Reggiani had been killed.

. . . The authorities were quick to respond. Premier Romano Prodi's government declared that new legislation would be introduced to expel anyone suspected of being a "threat to public safety".

There would be no need for proof of a criminal record or a trial, and there would be no appeal.

Most observers believed that the EU would step in to block the laws and defend the principle that EU residents can travel freely among member states.

But amazingly, earlier this week, the European Commission said the Italian government was within its rights, so long as each case was treated individually and not used to discriminate against any particular nationality or group.

The decision will put new pressure on the British governnment, which has failed to act on its promise to introduce laws to "automatically deport" foreign nationals who commit major crimes.

The Italians, on the other hand, have wasted no time. This week squads of armed police, backed by helicopters, moved into hundreds of illegal camps set up by an estimated half a million people who have poured into the country this year.

. . . The charming piazzas and winding streets are now home to gangs of Roma, selling drugs, women and stolen goods to anyone strolling past in the weak winter sunshine.

Once a quiet residential area near the Vatican City, Campo Dei Fiori was beloved by Romans for its tranquillity and lively fruit and vegetable market.

Ten months after Romania was admitted to the EU, the piazza is now a hellish place at night.

During a five-minute stroll through the square, I was offered drugs ranging from crack cocaine to heroin. Drunken immigrants stagger through the streets, challenging locals to fight.

It was here that a cyclist was attacked and killed by a 15-year-old Romanian boy. And not far away, 22-year-old Vanessa Russo was killed by two Romanian women at Termini underground station in front of scores of tourists.

"There is a total lack of control," said Flaminia Borghese, president of the Roman residents' association.

A former communist and editor of a Left-wing newspaper, Walter Veltroni, the dapper, jazz-loving mayor of Rome, is cutting the amount of the city's budget spent on caring for beggars, the deprived and immigrants.

Mr Veltroni said that before Romania's EU accession Rome had been one of the safest cities in Europe. "These are not immigrants who came here to live, but criminal types," he said.

Tapping into popular sentiment after polls showed 83 per cent of Italians backed forced deportations of immigrants, Veltroni pointed out the crucial facts.
More than 75 per cent of all crime in the capital is now carried out by Romanians since they were allowed to travel freely at the start of this year.

They have been responsible for 76 murders, more than 300 rapes and 2,000 robberies, according to police statistics.

Nearly 400 Romanians have been charged with kidnappings, mostly involving prostitution, and 6,000 with receiving stolen goods.

Tellingly, even the Romanians do not want their own people back: crime has dropped by 26 per cent since they started leaving in their hundreds and thousands.

In echoes of attacks on critics of immigration throughout Europe, groups supporting the Roma have accused the media of stirring up racial hatred, claiming this will only add to the problems.

But Italian editors say they cannot turn a blind eye to the facts. The Rome daily Il Messaggero, referring to the Reggiani case, said: "Our anger, frustration, fear and grief cannot be underestimated. This is the direct consequence of excessive tolerance. We have blindly accepted anyone who wanted to come to Italy. We should have reacted much earlier."

. . . However, Italy's response will put the focus on countries such as Britain, where politicians have lost control of immigration and persistently claim that the EU prevents the deportation of lawbreakers.

Now they no longer have that defense - but will they have the strength to act as decisively as the Italians?

You can read the entire article here.

While the EU is not stepping in at this time, I think that this matter is far from closed. While I fully support the Italian response, I think the final word on this in light of the highly liberal laws of the EU is far from written. The EU's warning not to conduct mass deportations would seem to be at odds with precisely what Italy is doing at this point. I would not be surprised for this to end up before the European Court of Human Rights.