Rome - Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni moved
Thursday to reassure his Romanian counterpart, Cristian David, that
Italy will not single out Romanian immigrants in a planned crackdown
on crime.
'There is no problem with the Romanian community in Italy, there's
a problem with security which is being felt by (Italian) citizens,
and to which the government intends to give an efficient response,'
Maroni said, at a joint news conference with David in Rome.
'We have to target criminals for the acts they commit. Those
foreigners who are delinquents must be expelled, something which is
possible,' Maroni said.
David said 'excellent bilateral relations' between Italy and
Romania would be intensified 'especially with regards to police
cooperation.'
The ministers spoke after meeting that came amid moves by Italy's
new conservative government to tighten controls on immigration,
including from other European Union member states like Romania.
'Over the last few days I heard criticism aimed at the (Italian
government's proposed) security package, but talk of mass expulsions
is unfounded,' Maroni said.
Earlier this week Romania's Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu
denounced reports that Italy was considering reimposing border
checks, saying such measures could fuel xenophobia.
Maroni, who is from the anti-immigration Northern League party,
has said he favours making illegal immigration a crime, and that
such a measure could be included in a security package to be approved
soon by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government.
Maroni has also endowed the government's top public order
official in Milan with special powers to deal with camps in the city
occupied by ethnic Roma - many of whom are of Romanian nationality
and who are often associated with crime.
At the Thursday news conference, Maroni announced he had given
public order officials in Rome and Naples the same powers, following
requests from the cities' mayors.
On Tuesday authorities in Naples evacuated a Roma camp torched by
local residents who were incensed by a Roma girl's alleged attempt to
kidnap a baby.
By Wednesday the 100 or so Roma in the camp situated in the
low-income Ponticelli district had been moved to other Roma
settlements in Naples.
The incident is the latest of a series of high profile cases
involving Italy's Roma community.
Late last year the previous centre-left government expelled over
200 Romanian nationals with criminal records in the wake of the
murder, allegedly by a Roma man of Romanian origin, of a housewife in
Rome.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story