Marco Minniti: “Immigration should not be used as a weapon”

The Campiotti Hall was crowded this evening for the meeting with the ex-minister of the Interior of the government, Gentiloni, Marco Minniti, who presented his book “Sicurezza è libertà – Terrorismo e immigrazione: contro la fabbrica della paura” (Rizzoli).

Minniti, interviewed by Lorenzo Cremonesi, the Corriere della Sera reporter, and Tomas Miglierina, the reporter for Swiss Italian Television from Brussels, spoke about the most discussed topic of the political debate, starting with the description of how the agreement with Libya was reached in February 2017, which led to an 80% reduction in the number of landings on the Italian coast.

Minniti, a great expert of Libyan reality, also thanks to his twenty-year experience in the apparatus of the Italian security and intelligence, “teased” by Tomas Miglierina, explained the reasons that led to the agreement and revealed his hope that further improvements may emerge from the imminent conference about Libya, which will be held in Palermo on November 12^th and 13^th: “I hope, in the interest of Italy, that the conference will be successful and that will lead to further positive improvements, because it should not be forgotten that the reduction in landings, that the current government is boasting about, is the result of the agreement that we signed in February 2017.”

Therefore, the issue of migratory flows should be controlled and not used as a “weapon”; it should not be faced with an attitude of closure but acting in three areas: the fight against human trafficking; the protection of the human rights of migrants, which, in accordance with international agreements, are entitled to refugee status through the establishment of humanitarian corridors, and lastly the creation of legal channels for economic immigration, being able to ensure and respect the balance between supply and demand for labour. This should start with the abolition of the Bossi-Fini law and the approval of a new regulatory framework on immigration.

We couldn’t miss a more strictly political parenthesis, since there is an increasing possibility that Minniti may run for the leadership of the Democratic Party (PD). The ex-minister has not yet released the reserve “but,” he admitted before the Varese public, “I will accept, if I realise I can be useful in this political phase”.

The meetings with the ex-ministers of the Interior Roberto Maroni and Marco Minniti were organized as part of the seventh edition of Glocal, the festival of digital journalism which starts tomorrow, Thursday, November 8th, and will continue with more than 60 meetings, events and workshops until Sunday, November 11th.