The "latest" public enemy: Romanian Roma in Italy
Introduction1
Background
On 31 October, the violent murder of an Italian woman in Rome allegedly perpetrated by a Romanian Rom living in one of the several encampments existing in the Italian capital triggered the government to adopt an emergency decree (n.181/2007) aimed at facilitating the removal of EU citizens from Italy whenever they were deemed to represent a threat to public and national security. Mr Veltroni, mayor of Rome and national leader of the Democratic Party stated:
Before Romania EU accession, Rome was the safest capital in the world. We need to repatriate people again; otherwise cities like Rome, Milan and Turin can’t cope with the situation (La Repubblica, 1 November 2007). The decree was presented by key political figures of the government as a necessary response to the existing widespread alarm surrounding the arrival and settlement in Italy of Romanian migrants, in particular if of Romani ethnic origin2. To capture the spirit of the time, ‘a continuing anti-foreigner outcry unmatched in Italy’s recent history’ according to Hopper (The Guardian, 2 November 2007), it may be helpful to recall the words of the prefect of Rome, Carlo Mosca, in the wake of the approval of the emergency decree. Mr Mosca stated: I shall sign the first expulsion orders straightaway. A hard line is needed because, faced with animals, the only way to react is with maximum severity’ (The Guardian, 3 November 2007).It must also be noted that the comment did not prompt controversy. The decree [decreto-legge], which is part of series of policy proposals labelled ‘pacchetto sicurezza’, while benefited from a wide support among the Italian public and political leadership, alerted some Italian NGOs and attracted the attention of international observers and commentators who saw in it a potential discriminatory instrument targeted at a single ethnic group: the Romanian Roma3.
1We wish to thank all individuals and organisations that helped us with their time and knowledge in Milan, Rome, Bologna and Naples. A special thank you to Julia Bell and Kristin Sian Jenkins for their help to translate and edit the final report.
2
In a press release dated 7 November 2007, Amnesty International (Italy) invites the members of the Italian government and MPs ‘to refrain from generalisations, to avoid allusions to an alleged collective responsibility of a specific migrant group, and not to use the unacceptable equation between poverty and attitude to crime’: www.amnesty.it/pressroom/comunicati/CS127-2007.html
3
In the main European newspapers, the news on the Italian decree on the removal and deportation of EU citizen is reported extensively. During November ‘07, the Financial Times followed closely the initiatives undertaken by Italian central and local authorities to deal with the so called ‘emergenza rom romeni’. On 28 November, a FT article (‘Italian cities to clear gypsy sites’) reports to its international readership that ‘several local authorities across Italy are clearing out gypsy settlements, blaming rising crime on a mass influx of migrants caused by European Union enlargement’. On 3 November, an article in the Guardian (‘Italian police
begin to round up Romanians’) reports that ‘Italian police yesterday began combing shantytowns in Rome and other big cities to locate Romanians targeted for expulsion under legislation introduced after the gruesome murder of a woman on the outskirts of the capita