Romanian PM To Visit Italy Amid Immigration Tension - AFP
BUCHAREST (AFP) -- Romania's prime minister will visit Italy next week amid tensions there over the killing of an Italian woman and suspected reprisal attacks against Romanians, the the Italian and Romanian governments said on Sunday.
Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu will hold talks with his Italian counterpart Romano Prodi amid the tensions over the immigration issue, statements in Rome and Bucharest said.
"Mr. Tariceanu this evening had another telephone conversation with Mr. Prodi in which they discussed matters relating to Romanian immigrants in Italy," a statement from the Romanian government said.
"The two prime ministers have decided that Mr. Tariceanu will make a working visit to Rome during the next week," the statement said.
Tensions over Italy's Romanian immigrant community were stoked by the killing of 47-year-old Giovanna Reggiania last week in an incident that received widespread attention in the country.
A 24-year-old Romanian man has been arrested on suspicion of murder but he denied the charge.
On Friday night, three Romanian men were beaten with sticks, knives and iron bars outside Rome, in an apparent reprisal attack. –
read here -
Sunday November 4th, 2007 / 20h16
Berlusconi Urges Italy To Shut Borders To Romanian Workers
ROME (AP) -- Opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi urged Italy to close its borders to Romanian workers and a conservative ally called for the expulsion of tens of thousands of immigrants as the nation grappled Sunday with public outrage over a wave of violent crimes blamed on foreigners.
Pope Benedict XVI added his moral voice to the debate over the balance between citizen safety and treatment of foreigners by reminding authorities that immigrants have obligations - and rights.
The Vatican wields considerable political influence in Italy, and the pope weighed in as lawmakers prepared to debate the government's response, which includes fast-track expulsions of Romanians and other E.U. citizens deemed dangerous, as well bulldozing shantytowns housing thousands of immigrants.
"In Rome alone, 20,000 expulsions should be carried out right away," right-wing leader Gianfranco Fini, a key Berlusconi ally and a potential contender in the next election for premier, said on a TV talk show.
Berlusconi told
La Stampa newspaper that Italy should enact a moratorium against Romanian workers. "If I were in the government, I would have done it", the billionaire media mogul and former premier was quoted as saying.
Armed with a government decree approved in an emergency Cabinet session on Oct. 31, authorities across Italy have begun expelling or readying expulsion orders for European Union citizens with criminal records or those deemed dangerous to public safety.
To remain in force more than a few months, the decree requires approval in Parliament, where Premier Romano Prodi's center-left forces have a narrow and sometime unreliable majority.
Fini said his forces would vote for it only if expulsions were expanded to include Romanians and other E.U. citizens without the means to support themselves.
Police on Sunday searched for several Italians who, with clubs and knives, wounded three Romanians in a Rome parking lot on Friday night.
In Bucharest, Romanian's prime minister, Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, summoned top Cabinet ministers Sunday to discuss the issue and spoke to Prodi by telephone.
Tariceanu's office said he would travel to Rome later this week. "He called on Prodi to undertake measures to protect Romanian citizens in Italy who are honest workers", his office said. Tariceanu "was worried about xenophic acts".
Romanian's president, Traian Basescu, appealed to Romanian and Italian politicians to "refrain from making statements that could make the situation more tense".
"We support any criminal being punished, but we can't agree with the humiliation of millions of Romanians" to suit Italian political purposes, Basescu said in a special address from the presidential palace.
Italian authorities say statistics show foreigners commit a disproportionate number of crimes in Italy, and Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni said 75% of arrests in the city in the last year involved Romanians.
On the national level, figures from Italy's statistics bureau found that, while less than 5% of the population in 2004 were foreigners, foreigners accounted for 26% of all those convicted, although the report cautioned that immigrants were less likely to obtain adequate legal defense.
Romanians have been detained as suspects in several recent crimes, including the rape of a woman on church steps in northern Italy, a Tiber River bank mugging that left a Rome cyclist in a coma for weeks before he died and the robbery of a Milan coffee bar in which the elderly owner was beaten and her daughter raped.
The savage beating last week of the wife of an Italian naval commander triggered the decree calling for quick expulsions of some E.U. citizens after a Romanian was arrested in connection with the assault.
Amid the tensions, Pope Benedict offered his concern as he addressed pilgrims in St. Peter's Square.
Speaking about the relations between migrants and local populations, Benedict expressed hope that "those who deal with security and welcoming programs know how to use instruments aimed at guaranteeing the rights and duties that are at the foundations" of coexistence. –
read here -
Sunday November 4th, 2007 / 19h48
[mig007]
Zangy Comment Graphics
Romanian PM To Visit Italy Amid Immigration Tension - AFP
BUCHAREST (AFP) -- Romania's prime minister will visit Italy next week amid tensions there over the killing of an Italian woman and suspected reprisal attacks against Romanians, the the Italian and Romanian governments said on Sunday.
Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu will hold talks with his Italian counterpart Romano Prodi amid the tensions over the immigration issue, statements in Rome and Bucharest said.
"Mr. Tariceanu this evening had another telephone conversation with Mr. Prodi in which they discussed matters relating to Romanian immigrants in Italy," a statement from the Romanian government said.
"The two prime ministers have decided that Mr. Tariceanu will make a working visit to Rome during the next week," the statement said.
Tensions over Italy's Romanian immigrant community were stoked by the killing of 47-year-old Giovanna Reggiania last week in an incident that received widespread attention in the country.
A 24-year-old Romanian man has been arrested on suspicion of murder but he denied the charge.
On Friday night, three Romanian men were beaten with sticks, knives and iron bars outside Rome, in an apparent reprisal attack. – read here -
Sunday November 4th, 2007 / 20h16
Berlusconi Urges Italy To Shut Borders To Romanian Workers
ROME (AP) -- Opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi urged Italy to close its borders to Romanian workers and a conservative ally called for the expulsion of tens of thousands of immigrants as the nation grappled Sunday with public outrage over a wave of violent crimes blamed on foreigners.
Pope Benedict XVI added his moral voice to the debate over the balance between citizen safety and treatment of foreigners by reminding authorities that immigrants have obligations - and rights.
The Vatican wields considerable political influence in Italy, and the pope weighed in as lawmakers prepared to debate the government's response, which includes fast-track expulsions of Romanians and other E.U. citizens deemed dangerous, as well bulldozing shantytowns housing thousands of immigrants.
"In Rome alone, 20,000 expulsions should be carried out right away," right-wing leader Gianfranco Fini, a key Berlusconi ally and a potential contender in the next election for premier, said on a TV talk show.
Berlusconi told La Stampa newspaper that Italy should enact a moratorium against Romanian workers. "If I were in the government, I would have done it", the billionaire media mogul and former premier was quoted as saying.
Armed with a government decree approved in an emergency Cabinet session on Oct. 31, authorities across Italy have begun expelling or readying expulsion orders for European Union citizens with criminal records or those deemed dangerous to public safety.
To remain in force more than a few months, the decree requires approval in Parliament, where Premier Romano Prodi's center-left forces have a narrow and sometime unreliable majority.
Fini said his forces would vote for it only if expulsions were expanded to include Romanians and other E.U. citizens without the means to support themselves.
Police on Sunday searched for several Italians who, with clubs and knives, wounded three Romanians in a Rome parking lot on Friday night.
In Bucharest, Romanian's prime minister, Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, summoned top Cabinet ministers Sunday to discuss the issue and spoke to Prodi by telephone.
Tariceanu's office said he would travel to Rome later this week. "He called on Prodi to undertake measures to protect Romanian citizens in Italy who are honest workers", his office said. Tariceanu "was worried about xenophic acts".
Romanian's president, Traian Basescu, appealed to Romanian and Italian politicians to "refrain from making statements that could make the situation more tense".
"We support any criminal being punished, but we can't agree with the humiliation of millions of Romanians" to suit Italian political purposes, Basescu said in a special address from the presidential palace.
Italian authorities say statistics show foreigners commit a disproportionate number of crimes in Italy, and Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni said 75% of arrests in the city in the last year involved Romanians.
On the national level, figures from Italy's statistics bureau found that, while less than 5% of the population in 2004 were foreigners, foreigners accounted for 26% of all those convicted, although the report cautioned that immigrants were less likely to obtain adequate legal defense.
Romanians have been detained as suspects in several recent crimes, including the rape of a woman on church steps in northern Italy, a Tiber River bank mugging that left a Rome cyclist in a coma for weeks before he died and the robbery of a Milan coffee bar in which the elderly owner was beaten and her daughter raped.
The savage beating last week of the wife of an Italian naval commander triggered the decree calling for quick expulsions of some E.U. citizens after a Romanian was arrested in connection with the assault.
Amid the tensions, Pope Benedict offered his concern as he addressed pilgrims in St. Peter's Square.
Speaking about the relations between migrants and local populations, Benedict expressed hope that "those who deal with security and welcoming programs know how to use instruments aimed at guaranteeing the rights and duties that are at the foundations" of coexistence. – read here -
Sunday November 4th, 2007 / 19h48
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