Italy's government to extend migrant NGO crackdown to planes

Italy's government to extend migrant NGO crackdown to planes

By Giuseppe Fonte and Angelo Amante

Italy will impose fines of up to 10,000 euros ($11,150) on pilots of aircraft that search for migrant boats in distress at sea, according to a draft government decree.

The right-wing administration of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has vowed to block irregular arrivals, working with African governments to block departures and building migrant centres in Albania which will soon become operational.

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It has also made it increasingly difficult for charities to operate their ships, limiting the number of rescues they can carry out, seizing them at ports and often forcing them to make huge detours to bring migrants ashore.

Under the decree, aircraft "departing or landing in Italy which carry out activity ... with the aim of search and rescue" must immediately inform the authorities of any emergency and abide by their orders.

Failure to do so could lead to the aircraft being impounded for 20 days and, in the event of repeated breaches of the rules, being confiscated.

The move comes after a first clampdown in May, when Italy banned the planes used by charities to track down migrant boats from using airports close to the shipping routes. The charities reacted with outrage, and some have disregarded the measure.

The new decree also envisages a crackdown on fraud within the migrant visa system. Meloni has denounced the fraud as evidence that crime groups have infiltrated the system to grant visas to those who have no right.

The decree says employers who in the past three years presented a request to hire a foreign worker but never followed through - potentially indicating fraud - will not be allowed to apply again.

Italy last year raised quotas for work visas for non-EU citizens to a total of 452,000 for the period 2023-2025, an increase of nearly 150% from the previous three years. In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Italy issued just 30,850 visas.