Il Council of Ministers On October 21, 2024, a major intervention was performed. Management of Return of MigrantsConsolidating the Maloney government line. It is about important decisions. List of protected countriesWhich becomes an integral part of the law with annual updates, with the aim of limiting the legal deadlock associated with the margin of interpretation and exclusion. This is not just a technical question: it is a precise move to bring order between the various judicial readings that have so far hindered operational effectiveness. It is this change of approach that places immigration management within a more rigorous framework, intended to offer judges a solid regulatory foundation.
There is no shortage of references to intervention on other important issues within the project. It is not the first time that the government has shown its intention to solve unresolved problems: the October 2nd council discussed gang mastering, a topic that for Italy The face of exploitation in agricultural sectors And this has led to the need for more stringent control measures and victim support. A framework that is obviously not limited to crackdowns on migrants, but that seeks to embrace a broader spectrum of structural interventions, at least in intention.
Act to lock down the list of protected countries
The Council of Ministers made a strong point: List of safe countries for repatriation becomes law. No more annual updates by decree of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, as has been the case so far: the list now has the same regulatory weight as any law.
During a press conference at the Palazzo Chigi, Justice Minister Carlo Nordio said the move was the result of a ruling by the European Court of Justice, which, he said, was not fully understood by Italian judges. Still, there is a clear desire behind this choice: to strengthen national legislative authority over European interpretations.
Piantedosi and the short list: out Cameroon, Colombia and Nigeria
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi announced that 19 countries missing from the list Excluding Cameroon, Colombia and Nigeria. The selection criteria were based on an assessment of regional stability. For Piantedosi, the move represents a response to what he described as “ambiguous interpretation” by judges, who in the past have often issued sentences that were not shared by the government.
The decree states that the list of protected countries will be reviewed from time to time by an act with the force of law, the directives of the European Court of Justice will be implemented and countries with territorial immunity will be removed.
Discontinuity between Italian law and European law
is at the heart of the story. Treatment of migrants in centers in Albania. Here, a group of Italian judges applied the letter to the letter European rulers On October 4, canceling the detention of 12 immigrants. The Court of Justice established that a country can only be declared safe if it strictly excludes any risk of persecution or inhuman treatment. The new Italian law tries to limit this interpretation, attributing a normative value to the list of protected countries that should reduce the arbitrariness of judicial decisions.
Nordeo and the hard line: the law does not pass
However, this matter has become highly political. According to Nordeau, by making the list a mandatory part of the law, judges would no longer have room to overrule it. “I tend to rule out that they can,” he declared, implying that the move represented a sort of regulatory “blockade.” Furthermore, he pointed out A court decision is not binding in the abstract sense.but responds to a specific case with very strict criteria.
The squeeze on repatriation: less likely to prevent outflows
The new rule serves to accelerate emissions.Limiting the instrumentality of applications for international protection. With the current system, Piantidosi explained, people who apply for asylum actually delay the repatriation process for years, at huge costs to the state. The minister also released the statistics: Each year, the Ministry of the Interior spends 1.7 billion euros on migrant assistance.With a high percentage of applications that are then rejected.
