In the imaginary world of the Italians, the big boat full of African emigrants has substituted the "Ogre", the "Bogeyman". Hundreds of desperate people who are risking their lives at sea, often people with the right to have political asylum. While Maroni looks to the shores of Libya, he is forgetting that hundreds of thousands of people have come into Italy from the East. Documented citizens of the European Union, most of whom have Romanian passports. No one has stopped them, has asked if they have a job, a house, an income. We have exploited the honest ones and we have taken no notice of the dishonest ones.
From 2007, with the entry of Romania and Bulgaria into the European Union, the gates have opened. Most of the countries of Europe adopted the moratorium. From the East they poured into the only country with borders made of butter according to the law. Like water in a funnel. Everything arrived. The percentage of detainees from the East in Italian prisons is impressive. The black man in prison is a rare thing. The problem, at the level of big numbers, is not the delinquent from outside the European Union but the one from within.
Italy contributes 12 to 13 billion euro to the coffers of Europe every year, and of these about 8 billion return to us. The rest goes to the countries that have the greatest need of investments. Among these, Romania. So basically, our taxes are used to help the less developed countries of Europe. No objection up to this point. However, Italy is Romania's top commercial partner. 22 thousand of our companies have opened new activities there or have delocalized there, thanks to the European incentives. The Italian companies have disembarked in the East with the objective of making money. Reducing production costs, not having to be subject to controls on labour that exist in our country. And, if possible, making use of the label "Made in Italy". In exchange, Romania has been able to export low cost labour for construction, almost always undocumented, and to get rid of thousands of unwanted people. No moratorium. The Lega did not lift a finger. And to be truthful, neither did the others. Who has gained from this? Only one name springs to mind: the Confidustria. {General Confederation of Italian Industry}
In response to the question: "How many people have entered from Romania?" Prodi and Bonino did not have a response. Frattini who was then the vice president of the European Commission, and now the Minister of Foreign Affairs, said he was against methods of limiting entry to Romanian and Bulgarian workers into Italy, as happened in other countries of the EU. Those who have the right to claim political asylum, we abandon to their destiny, and we throw open the doors to people with kilometre-long criminal records just because they are from the European Community. In Italy we have the free circulation of delinquents, which is why they all want to come to us. To reject those who have the right to political asylum, is a crime against humanity. All the rest is business.

beppe exaggerates a bit here, i think, in saying they all want to come here for his stated reasons. it may be also the fact that italy has such a disproportionately long coastline, well known as porous, as well as its geographical proximity to both africa and eastern europe...

spain and malta have big problems too, but i get the feeling italy's in the x-hairs as choice port of entry.

the word among immigrants is that because you have to be processed in the country of entry, it's better to avoid italy, (because of its slow legal process and sketchy holding camps) and choose norway for example, but the trip is way harder, obviously.

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty