Via dell’Osservatorio 39 50141 Firenze Italia web: www.osservazione.org email: [email protected] THE ‘LATEST’ PUBLIC ENEMY: ROMANIAN ROMA IN ITALY The case studies of Milan, Bologna, Rome and Naples DRAFT FINAL REPORT Edited by Nando Sigona Research coordinator: Nando Sigona Research team: Livia Brembilla, Piero Colacicchi, Ulderico Daniele, Lorenzo Monasta, Barbara Pierro, Eva Rizzin, Stefano Montesi and Francesca Saudino 21 January 2008 The research and writing for the report was funded by the OSCE/ODIHR and CPRSI. OsservAzione is a non governmental organisation engaging in a range of activities aimed at combatting anti-Romani racism and human rights abuses against Roma and Sinti in Italy. OsservAzione The ‘latest’ public enemy: Romanian Roma in Italy TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 3 Background 3 Aims, objectives and methods of research 4 Roma and Sinti in Italy 5 The latest public enemy 7 National press and ‘emergency’ 12 MILAN 16 Introduction 16 Roma and Sinti in Milan 16 The institutions and the politicians 19 Enforcing the decree n.181/2007 21 Local press 21 The Roma and the emergency 23 Summary 27 BOLOGNA 28 Introduction: Roma and Sinti in Bologna 28 Present day 29 Local press: articles from the newspaper “Il Resto del Carlino” 31 The situation in Bologna after 2 November 2007 34 Summary 36 ROMA 37 Rome: economic and social growth model 37 The Roma in Rome 39 Monitoring of local press 40 The institutions and the last Roma emergency 42 The impact on Roma 44 Summary 46 NAPOLI 47 Introduction 47 The situation of the Roma population 47 The Romanian Roma emergency 50 The local press 50 Institutions and politicians 52 The expulsion measures 54 The Roma and the ‘emergency’ in Naples 54 Summary 56 CONCLUSIONS 57 RECOMMENDATIONS 60 APPENDIX 61 LIST OF REFERENCES 63 2 OsservAzione The ‘latest’ public enemy: Romanian Roma in Italy INTRODUCTION1 Nando Sigona 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. 1 We 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 capital 3 OsservAzione The ‘latest’ public enemy: Romanian Roma in Italy Rossana Rossanda, a well-known leftwing intellectual, crystallises this position, saying in an interview to Repubblica (3 Nov 2007): The reaction of the Italian government to the murder of Mrs Reggiani was disgusting. There is no other word. I heard that police forces turned up in Romani encampments, among those miserable huts and shacks, to dismantle everything and evict innocent people. These, to me, are fascist behaviours, with no justification. I have never seen something like that [in Italy]. The views on the Italian initiative have therefore been extreme and diverse, ranging from those who condemned the decree as racist or a violation of human rights, to those who suggested that the decree is to a large extent in line with the EU Directive on the freedom of circulation of member states citizens in the EU territory (2004/38/CE), to those who consider the decree a mere populist response to public anxiety with no actual effectiveness. The present research was undertaken in a two month period between the publication of the decree and when it ceased to be in force. In fact, according to the article 77 of the Italian Constitution, while the government can adopt, in ‘extraordinary cases of necessity and urgency’, provisional measures having the force of law, these measures lose effect from their inception ‘if they are not converted into law within sixty days from their publication’. On 19 December 2007, two weeks before the deadline (1 January 2008) for conversion into law of the decree, the Minister in charge of the liaisons with the Parliament, Vannino Chiti, reported to the assembly the decision of the government to renounce the conversion of the decree n. 181/2007, officially, because of legal flaws in the text approved by the Senate which were not amendable in the limited time available before the deadline4. Ten days later, on 29 December, a new decree containing ‘urgent measures for combatting international terrorism and for extraordinary needs of public security’ (n. 249/2007) was signed by the President of the Republic and published in the Official Gazette on 2 January 2008. While largely consistent with the previous decree in its contents, the new act has a broader policy scope including measures to combat ‘international terrorism’5. Aims, objectives and methods of research The scope of research is defined by three parameters: the actual implementation of the decree; the public perception of the ‘Gypsies’ and the impact of both on Romani people living in Italy. The main aims of research, therefore, are: • to analyse the current situation of Roma in Italy, with particular attention to the Romanian Roma, in the period between 31 October 2007 and 31 December 2007; • to investigate media coverage and public perception of Roma and Roma- related issues; • to monitor policy and practice, both at national and local levels, to respond to the alleged ‘invasion’ of Romanian Roma. this week’ highlighting the widespread support of the hard line adopted by the government on the matter. 4 Up to 27 December 2007, the decree produced 510 removals of EU citizens, of which 181 for ‘imperative reasons of public security’ (Sole 24 Ore, 28 December). 5 See Vassallo Paleologo (2007) for a critical analysis of the decree 249/2007 4 OsservAzione The ‘latest’ public enemy: Romanian Roma in Italy In order to achieve the stated aims of research, the research team has carried a number of activities: • Investigating the enforcement of the decree n. 181 both at the national level and, in four case studies, at the local level. These four cities were chosen for their geographical diversity, the size of the Romanian Roma population, and, the local history of settlement of Roma communities, in particular from Romania. Moreover, as the decree gives to prefetti, (the highest representatives of the government in the localities) a large margin of autonomy (see art. 19, 20, 21 of the Decree 181/2007), it was crucial to investigate the way the decree was interpreted and enforced locally; • Monitoring local authorities’ initiatives targeted at Romanian Roma. The focus on local authorities is central, since in the Italian context municipalities have a large autonomy in this area of governance and, as we observed in previous research (Sigona and Monasta, 2006; Sigona, 2006), their policy, approach and attitude towards Roma varies greatly; • Monitoring media coverage of Roma-related issues in the period between 31 October to 15 December.