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Garbage and Immigrants

Berlusconi Pulls out the Mop

In a special cabinet meeting in Naples on Wednesday, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi put forward a new plan to deal with the city's ongoing garbage pileup. His cabinet also approved controversial new measures against illegal immigrants.

Prior to his recent reinstatement as prime minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi promised that he would spend three days a week in Naples until the ongoing garbage crisis there was solved. On Wednesday, he made good on his promise, holding a cabinet meeting in the southern Italian city -- and issuing a decree putting the country's army in charge of guarding new dump sites for the city.

"We are convinced this will bring new life to Naples," Berlusconi said. "The dream would be to see Naples blossom again."

For months, the city has seen trash pile up on streets with a cloud of stench spreading out across the city. Repeated protests have seen residents burn garbage in downtown Naples and numerous attempts to solve the problem have failed.

Berlusconi on Wednesday said that those blocking the collection of garbage or access to dump sites could face up to a year of jail time. Residents of Naples have staged occasionally violent protests against the city's ad hoc reopening of overflowing landfills in the absence of a long-term strategy to deal with the growing detritus difficulties.

The new prime minister refused to disclose the location of the new dump sites his government has identified for fear of immediate protests. He did say that they would be distributed across the region. Naples and its surroundings have been plagued by garbage collection issues for years as a result of bad government and mob infiltration in the garbage collection industry.

Berlusconi's cabinet on Wednesday evening also approved a controversial new package of laws aimed at combating illegal immigration in the country. Drafted by Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, of the anti-immigrant, far-right party Northern League, the package would make it easier for foreigners to be expelled, would make illegal immigration a punishable offense and would make criminals of those renting homes or apartments to illegal immigrants.

The measures come amid a growing backlash against Roma in Italy. Naples recently saw attacks against illegal Roma camps following accusations that a Roma girl attempted to kidnap a baby. Similar allegations are swirling this week in Sicily. A week ago, police officers raided a Roma camp near Rome and detained several dozen immigrants without proper papers.

But even as Italy has presented the new measures as necessary for public safety, criticism of the proposals has been widespread. Most Roma in Italy come from Romania, a member of the European Union and it is unclear whether Rome's harsh crackdown on immigrants is in harmony with EU law.

"The Roma people … need to have the same liberties, the same rights as the others," said EU Social Affairs Commissioner Vladimir Spidla on Wednesday in comments on Italy's illegal immigration package. "They are not third country immigrants. They are citizens of the EU and they should not be discriminated against."

The Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg was also critical of Rome, saying "arrests should be used against criminals, which immigrants are not." The United Nations has also blasted the Berlusconi government, pointing out that its proposals could well contravene the European Convention on Human Rights.

cgh/ap/reuters

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