Italian Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese has sent a draft letter to Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte which could dismantle the anti-mass migration decrees enacted by populist Senator Matteo Salvini.
Prime Minister Conte has previously stated that he wants to reform the security decrees which placed large fines on migrant transport NGOs and greatly restricted their activity to bring in migrants from the Libyan coast.
While Interior Minister Lamorgese has already reduced the fines to between €10,000 and €15,000, much of the security decrees remain in place such as the ban on residency permits for failed asylum seekers under “humanitarian” grounds.
According to a report from newspaper Il Giornale, the Conte left-wing coalition government is now looking to reverse the Salvini decrees and open the country back up to mass migration.
The new decree is expected to contain nine articles in total, one of which could expand the “special protection” that went on to replace the humanitarian protection residency permit.
For at least the past year, the coalition of the Democratic Party (PD) and the Five Star Movement has discussed scrapping the anti-mass migration decrees. It has allowed NGOs to operate in a limited capacity, sometimes seizing their vessels after they drop off migrants.
A ship belonging to one NGO, the German-based Sea-Eye, was initially rejected by Italian authorities for port access and announced this week the vessel would instead travel to Marseille, France, with 125 migrants aboard.
On Thursday, however, it was revealed that Italian authorities relented, giving the NGO’s vessel Alan Kurdi access to the port of Arbatax in Sardinia.
The acceptance came after a complaint from the French government, which said: “For two years, we have always stood by Italy in the solidarity mechanism for the management of landings. We, therefore, ask you to respond favourably to the request made by the NGO to dock in the nearest safe harbour.”
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