Asylum-seekers whose applications are rejected in Italy will have to pay a deposit of €5,000 or risk being sent to a detention centre while their appeals are examined.
A decree to this effect, published in the official gazette, drew sharp condemnations from the left-wing opposition on Friday.
This financial guarantee of precisely €4,938, described as a “ransom” by the left-wing daily La Repubblica, is supposed to cover the cost of accommodation and subsistence for one person for one month, as well as the cost of repatriation if their application is definitively rejected.
It will be required of people who have attempted to evade border controls, as well as those from so-called “safe” countries who, in principle, are therefore ineligible for asylum.
If the applicant “disappears unduly,” the deposit paid will be kept by the state, according to the text.
The measure has been harshly criticised by the left. “On immigration, the government had already lost face, now it is losing its dignity by filling the [state] coffers on the backs and despair of people,” commented Democratic MP Emiliano Fossi.
The decree comes just days after Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government announced its intention to increase the maximum detention period for rejected asylum seekers to 18 months. The current detention period is 40 days, renewable up to a maximum of 138 days.
In this way, the government intends to discourage departures from North Africa and prevent the Italian authorities from being legally obliged to release foreigners who have been issued with a deportation order if the expulsion procedure has not been completed within the allotted time.
Since 11 September, Italy has recorded more than 15,000 arrivals of migrants from the North African coast to its shores. Most of them land on the island of Lampedusa, whose reception facilities have been overwhelmed.
