Salvini Party Clashes With Meloni and Allies Over Restricting Immigration to Italy

Populist Matteo Salvini’s League has clashed with other members of the right-wing ruling Italian government under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni after trying to propose amendments to further restrict immigration into the country.

The League came into conflict with Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (FdI) and the centre-right Forza Italia over proposed amendments to a security decree that is aimed at regulating the activities of migrant taxi NGOs and other pro-migration groups.

Igor Iezzi, a member of the League in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Italian parliament, stated, “We are very surprised by the decision of the allies, who use technical quibbles to hide a political choice,” the newspaper Il Giornale reports.

Salvini, who serves as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure in the Meloni government, played down the conflict saying, “I have total confidence in [Interior] Minister Piantedosi. Irritation? Zero. Let’s say that the majority in these three months has shown absolutely commendable compactness.”

The league had made 16 proposed amendments to the security decree, one of which would have made it harder for migrants to bring over family members, while another would limit the scope of so-called humanitarian protection for those who do not outright qualify for asylum.

President of the Commission of Constitutional Affairs Nazario Pagano, a member of Forza Italia, and president of the Commission of Transport Salvatore Deidda of the FdI stated that the amendments were not admissible as they sought to change existing laws.

Since coming into office last year, Prime Minister Meloni has vowed to tackle the issue of illegal immigration as Italy saw over 100,000 arrivals in 2022, the highest number since 2017.

While Meloni has made various proposals to reduce or stop illegal immigration to Italy, including floating the idea of a naval blockade of the Mediterranean by the Italian navy, illegal arrivals have remained high since she became Prime Minister.

In the first weeks of 2023, the number of illegals arriving far surpassed the same period in 2022 and 2021, with nearly 4,000 recorded landings in the first 17 days of the year, a number five times higher than 2021 and 2022 combined.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.