The broad outline of new immigration legislation designed to reform laws introduced by the previous centre-right government began to emerge on Wednesday.
The measures approved by Silvio Berlusconi's administration in 2002 in a bid to crack down on illegal immigration have proved highly controversial.
They have drawn criticism from unions, immigrant rights' groups and the Catholic Church as well as the centre left itself, which says the tough legal limits put on numbers have simply not worked.
The United Nations Refugee Agency refugee agency andAmnesty International has also expressed reservations over provisions for refugees and asylum seekers.
Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said in a press interview on Wednesday that Prodi's administration was considering two main channels through which workers from outside the EU could enter Italy.
The first would be reserved for qualified personnel from abroad, such as doctors or engineers, who could be requested specifically by Italian firms or institutions. The second channel would involve people who want to come to Italy to work as babysitters or manual labourers. These people would apply to Italian diplomatic missions abroad and would receive minimum training before they left.
They would be able to enter Italy and then look for work. This idea contrasts with the key provision of existing laws that insist on an applicant having a job contract before a residency permit is issued. "We need a more realistic law," Amato told Rome daily Il Messaggero, stressing that for now the two-channel approach he outlined was "only an idea" which needed further discussion.
STIFFER PENALTIES FOR TRAFFICKERS.
A group of experts from both the Interior and Justice ministries are currently reviewing existing legislation in a bid to have a draft reform proposal ready for the next cabinet meeting. The promise to revise immigration laws was part of the centre left's electoral platform.
It was confirmed by Amato and Justice Minister Clemente Mastella last week after at least 10 would-be immigrants were drowned off southern Italy as they tried to reach the shore. They said the most urgent reform would focus on stiffer penalties for those who ferry the would-be migrants across the Mediterranean on rickety boats that often capsize. Italy is a popular destination for would-be immigrants seeking a gateway into Europe, and thousands leave from north African ports every year, heading for its southern shores.
One of the main routes for would-be immigrants aiming to reach Europe is through the desert from central Africa, into Libya and up to ports on the northern coast. Here they pay organised crime groups to ferry them in creaking boats towards Italy.
"Personally I feel only solidarity towards these poor people who arrive. But I can't open the door to them because I'd be rewarding the traffickers," Amato said. In a bid to combat the human traffickers, frequently responsible for tragic shipwrecks, the government is to set up a national task force similar to existing antiterrorism and Mafia teams.
EUROPE MUST PLAY ROLE.
But Amato stressed that Italy's European Union partners also had a key role to play. He acknowledged that recently Brussels had started to get
involved.
Offering some proof of this, the European Commission on Wednesday greenlighted a proposal for tighter political coordination on immigration between all the EC departments which the issue involves. Meanwhile, Frontex, the EU border security agency, has decided to deploy patrols in the Mediterranean in order to help stem the flow of illegal migrants from north Africa towards Europe.
According to statements by the Maltese government published in the local media, these patrols could be operative by mid-September.
The patrol vessels will be supplied by Italy, Greece and
Malta, while France and Germany will provide some personnel, unconfirmed reports said.
