Eleven days after at least 72 migrants lost their lives off the Calabrian coast, the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, finally went to Steccato di Cutro, the scene of a tragedy that has shocked the transalpine country. The town whose beaches woke up on February 26 with the bodies of the victims of one of the worst shipwrecks in recent years was the place where he wanted to organize, in a symbolic way, a council of ministers to approve new measures that toughen the punishments for the traffickers who work for criminal organizations that profit from these trips.
But the ministers of the Meloni Government were not received as expected. Although there was some applause, they also heard screams of "murderers" from the neighbors who have been placing stuffed animals, toys, bouquets of flowers, student drawings or banners in front of the funeral chapel where the coffins were placed for more than a week.
"In recent days I would have preferred the presence of the Government with actions to demonstrate human solidarity", criticized the mayor of Crotona (the closest city to Steccato di Cutro), Vincenzo Voce, who baptized the organization of the Council of Ministers yesterday as only a “communication operation”.
Meloni had no choice but to organize this trip. The tragedy has put him in serious image trouble. After years of clamoring in rallies against the entry of irregular migrants, the Prime Minister did not step foot in Steccato di Cutro until yesterday to show solidarity with the survivors. Yes, the President of the Republic did, Sergio Mattarella, who met last week with the relatives of the victims. The opposition has called for the resignation of the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, who went so far as to suggest that the fault lay with those who risk jumping into the sea, saying that "desperation can never justify travel conditions that endanger life of their own children." Even the Crotona Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating why the maritime authorities, especially the coast guard, did not do more to prevent the Turkish vessel from collapsing in the swell with some 180 people on board after Frontex, the European aid agency with border control, notice that they had sighted the boat.
Given this scenario, the Prime Minister wanted to invite the families of the victims to the Chigi Palace, the seat of the Executive, but also to reaffirm her firmness against immigration with a new package of measures to punish human traffickers, speed up repatriations and encourage entry through legal channels. "The shipwreck is confirmation that there is no more responsible policy than to put an end to traffickers," he stated at a tense press conference from the Calabrian town where he even raised his voice to journalists who asked him about the lack of relief . “At this moment there are 20 boats that we are helping and you, precisely, speak of a case that we have not reached. If someone says or insinuates that the institutions turn their backs, I see it as very serious, ”she settled.
The new measures of the Italian Executive include a new typology of crime, "that of death and injuries due to the trafficking of clandestine immigrants", which carries a penalty of up to 30 years in prison for those traffickers who organize these journeys that end in tragedy. . A new crime that will be "universal", and that will be prosecuted equally if it is committed outside the national territory, that is, it will also affect those traffickers who operate from the countries of departure. "This is very important because it completely changes the approach of the Italian government," since "it means not hitting only the traffickers in the boats, but those who are behind it," Meloni said. After the Steccato di Cutro shipwreck, on February 26, three suspected traffickers who were on board the ship were arrested, a Turk and two Pakistanis, one of them a minor, who were pointed out by the survivors. This Wednesday an alleged trafficker who would have escaped to Austria was also arrested.
The text also provides for preferential entry quotas for countries of origin that fight against traffickers. Meloni wants to start a campaign to convey the message that, to enter Italy, "it is not convenient to pay traffickers because there are fewer possibilities than if they do it by another way." "You shouldn't risk dying," he stressed.
