Good afternoon everyone.
Thank you for being here, following this Council of Ministers meeting that we wanted to hold here in Cutro. I wish to thank all the authorities, starting with Mayor Antonio Ceraso, for the welcome, and I thank all citizens for their welcome.

After the tragedy that happened on 26 February, we wanted to give both a symbolic and a concrete signal by holding this Council of Ministers meeting here.
A symbolic symbol because this is the first time a Council of Ministers meeting has been held in a place where a migration-related tragedy has taken place, and, for us, the entire Council of Ministers being here in person is a way to stress how attentive and focused the Government is on this issue.

Our presence here today is a way to express together our condolences for the victims of these tragedies, for the pain of their loved ones. We wanted to affix a commemorative plaque in the entrance to the town hall in memory of the victims, so that this may remain in the days yet to come, ensuring remembrance is not merely transient in nature.
At the same time, we wanted to show local populations, especially in the south of Italy, who have been more affected by the migration issue over these years, that we are close to them. On the other hand, we also had to give a concrete signal because we are the Government of the Italian Republic and it is our job to find solutions to problems. As I have already said on another occasion, I believe the best way to honour these victims is to do what we can to prevent such tragedies from happening again.

At today’s Council of Ministers meeting, we approved a decree law that deals with this issue and we did this to reiterate our determination to defeat human trafficking, which is responsible for this tragedy. 
Our response to what happened is to introduce a firmer policy on this matter. Please allow me: I am saying this to get rid of a number of rather surreal reconstructions that I have read over the last few days, according to which the Government is allegedly changing its line following the tragedy in Cutro. Anyone who thinks that the events of 26 February have made us alter our line on the issue of immigration is very much mistaken.

I believe what happened in Cutro is confirmation, proof, that the most responsible policy is to aim to break up the smugglers’ trafficking activities, to fight the slavery of the third millennium represented by these criminal organisations.

I do not intend, we do not intend, to replicate the approach of those who have allowed death traffickers to operate substantially undisturbed over these years; we will do everything that must be done to fight and to stop these criminals.

I also wish to say that I am surprised by the behaviour of those who, over the last few days, have attacked the Government after Minister Piantedosi, whom I thank, has amply shown that the Government could not have done anything more or anything different than what it did to save the lives of these people (as has indeed been the case on all occasions when it has been made aware of a problem). The same people laying the blame on the Government do not say a word against the traffickers who received payments of up to EUR 9 thousand to put these people on a boat that broke into a thousand pieces at the first difficulty and who, to get the picture, abandoned one of these people with their hands tied to the boat’s helm.

I want to fight such people, I want to beat such people and I believe this is the most responsible policy possible: this is why we have approved the decree today, the main regulation of which is probably the one regarding the crimes and punishment relating to human trafficking.

The decree provides for more severe punishment for human trafficking and, above all, introduces a new type of offence relating to death or serious injury caused by the smuggling of illegal immigrants; these criminals face up to 30 years’ imprisonment for cases such as Cutro for example, when people die during one of these crossings.

I would like to draw your attention to an element that I consider to be very important indeed, and that is that Italy will prosecute for this offence even if it is committed outside of its national borders: for us, those responsible for serious injury or death while organising human trafficking can be punished for an offence that we consider to be a ‘universal’ crime. This means catching not only the traffickers we find aboard the boats, but also the traffickers behind them. I believe this is a very important element as it completely changes the Italian Government’s approach compared with what we have seen in recent years.  

We are used to an Italy that above all goes and searches for migrants all over the Mediterranean; this Government wants to go and search for smugglers all over the globe, because we want to put a stop to this trafficking. I also believe this issue needs to be dealt with at international level, because the more we manage to harmonise legislation, the more we can do something useful.

There are many other regulations, and I shall hand over to the relative Ministers to explain them better. There are regulations, for example, on the simplification of deportation procedures; there are regulations to strengthen detention centres for repatriation purposes; there are regulations allowing for intervention in the case of opaque management of migrant centres. There will be new restrictions on ‘special protection’. As you know, ‘special protection’ is a form of additional protection compared with international regulations, already provided for by the Geneva Convention and the European Union’s subsidiary protection; then there is Italy’s ‘special protection’ for specific cases. This has now grown out of all proportion and we are narrowing it down again. Having said that, I wish to announce that the Government’s objective is to abolish ‘special protection’ and replace it with a regulation based on common sense, which corresponds to the relevant European regulation. All these regulations regard the tackling and better organisation of this issue.

I also believe that another way to fight human traffickers is to send out the message that it is not worth entering Italy illegally, that it is not worth paying the smugglers, that it is not worth risking your life, because those who enter illegally by paying smugglers have less of a chance than those who do not do this. This is why we are restoring the ‘flow decrees’. I would like to remind you that, in recent years, the ‘flow decrees’, which allow legal migrants to enter for work purposes, have practically been zeroed as all immigration quotas were covered by those entering illegally. A responsible nation does not give out such a message. No responsible nation says to the world “if you want to come here, you cannot do so legally; pay the traffickers to come”. We therefore want to reverse this narrative.

The ‘flow decree’ will be reinstated, with its criteria and quotas, and on a three-year basis, thereby giving a projection that also regards the demand coming from manufacturers in certain sectors where labour is needed. It provides fast tracks for foreigners who, in their home country, have completed training courses recognised by the Italian Government and who therefore have better career possibilities, in order to have a skilled workforce and allow people who come to live in Italy to lead a dignified life, because another thing I will never be convinced of is that solidarity means allowing anyone in and then, at best, keeping them at traffic lights to clean the windshields of our cars. I believe solidarity is something else. I believe that, if you want to respect others, you have to give the same opportunities to those coming to Italy as you do to Italian citizens.
This is my model and the model of this Government.

To facilitate the entry of people able to lead a dignified life here (and we are talking about immigration, not refugees who, as you know, are governed by a completely different set of rules and in a completely different way; the ‘flow decree’ does not concern them) we envisage quotas for workers arriving from countries that collaborate with Italy to fight trafficking and to inform citizens about the risks they run by putting themselves in the hands of traffickers. We plan to run a campaign in the countries these people come from, informing them that the reality is often very different from what the criminals tell them. We want people to know the risks involved with putting themselves in the hands of traffickers and we will give ‘preferential’ quotas to nations and governments that help us with this awareness-raising initiative.

By the same logic, with regard to immigration and those who come to live in Italy, there are also regulations to fight the exploitation of migrant workers. In particular, we have dealt with combatting ‘agro-mafia’ groups and therefore also the ‘caporalato’ phenomenon [a form of illegal hiring and exploitation of workers].

These are the main measures, which will now be illustrated further. I would like to quickly add one more thing.
For me, for us, this decree law is a transition point. As Vice-President of the Council of Ministers Tajani, I presume, will tell you, migration is an extremely complex issue today. Everything that is happening around us, from the conflict in Ukraine to the earthquake in Türkiye, to events in Iran, concerns us, and concerns the migration issue too. We are working comprehensively and at various levels. This is one measure regarding this matter; we have introduced others before and we will introduce others after, but this is above all a matter that must also be dealt with at international level. As you have seen, we are doing this extensively, as part of our bilateral agreements and relations (there hasn’t been a single bilateral meeting where I haven’t also spoken about this issue, as is also the case for the Foreign Minister and other Ministers who enter into agreements or have international relations), and, above all, the issue at European level is becoming even more central.

As you know, following the tragedy, I wrote a letter to the top EU institutions to ask for immediate, concrete action. That was after a European Council meeting that had certainly shown a significant change of pace on the migration issue, which is something I had asked for. I’ll say it again, and I shall say it again also at the next European Council meeting: concrete action is needed on this issue, starting with cooperation and resources. Today, we have a huge problem with Tunisia, which is above all financial in nature; we therefore need comprehensive European responses on this matter.

Italy cannot address this on its own. President of the European Commission von der Leyen’s reply confirmed a step change; it confirmed that Italy’s demands are now considered key demands in the migration policy approach regarding external borders on the central Mediterranean route. For us, however, it is fundamental that we have concrete action, starting with the next European Council meeting.  

The entire Council of Ministers is committed to this, the entire Government is committed to this. We want to establish a principle whereby we do not put ourselves in the hands of traffickers, we do not accept the slave trade of the third millennium. We want to fight this and, at the same time, support legal migration flows for people who can lead a dignified life here. I shall stop here and pass the floor to Minister Nordio who will explain more about the new offence.

[Courtesy translation]