memorandum

“What this government wants to do is to go and look for smugglers all over the globe,” declared the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, in the press conference of Cutro, a few days after the shipwreck that led to the death of 92 people.The so-called smugglers seem to have become the heart of the government's line on immigration, with a new decree which further tightens the penalties for those who drive a boat carrying migrants.The persecution of smugglers is not a new strategy:in the last decade it has been a cornerstone of Italian and European migration policies.What has it meant so far? Is this really the solution to stopping departures and deaths at sea?And who really are the smugglers? “We cannot fail to see that it is a very hot political issue and that there is a strong demand, just read the newspapers, for the punishment of the highest possible number of smugglers on the face of the earth", explains to Blue suitcase Gigi Omar Modica, magistrate who has been dealing with irregular im...

Migrants, EU-Tunisia Memorandum of Understanding signed Update July 18, 2023: On 16 July the European Union signed the memorandum of understanding with Tunisia providing economic support from Brussels in exchange for border control and the implementation of economic reforms. According to the agreement, achieved by the Tunisian President, Kais Saied, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, and the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the EU is committed to providing financial support to Tunisia to improve the its search and rescue system at sea, the patrolling of territorial waters and border control, while Tunisia will promote the repatriation of Tunisian citizens who arrived irregularly in Europe.Saied – underlines Annalisa Camilli – reiterated her intention not to open refugee camps or centers to which non-Tunisian migrants could also be sent, as had been proposed by the EU during the negotiations. The funds...

No about-face.The Italy-Libya Memorandum of Understanding on migrants renewed for another three years Update November 2, 2022: In the end there was no about-face.From today, Wednesday 2 November, the Memorandum of Understanding on migration between Italy and Libya will be renewed for another three years.Signed on 2 February 2017, under the Gentiloni government, article 8 provides that the Memorandum is valid for three years and is tacitly renewed upon expiry for an equivalent period, "unless notified in writing by one of the two contracting parties, at least three months before of the expiration of the validity period (November 2 this year, ed.)".First the Draghi executive and now the Meloni executive have not asked to review the agreement.Hence the automatic renewal. The 2017 Memorandum of Understanding states that Italy is committed to financing reception centers in Libya and the training of Libyan staff.But as Open Migration reconstructs "these 'reception centres' are...