A few days after refusing permission for the MSF ship Aquarius to dock in Sicily after it rescued 629 migrants in the Mediterranean Sea, Italian Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini is again stoking controversy. This time it is for proposing to create a register of Roma population in Italy, in order to expel those deemed to have no right to stay in the country, while saying that “unfortunately, we must keep Italian Roma at home”.
After a first wave of criticism for his proposal, which would blatantly violate the Italian Constitution, Salvini said: “Our intention is not to file or take fingerprints of anyone, our goal is a survey of the situation of Roma camps”. Luigi Di Maio, leader of the 5 Star Movement and Salvini's ally in the government, was among those who criticised the Minister of the Interior in the first public dissent between the two leaders since the government's birth.
Salvini, leader of the far right party Lega, is the latest in a long series of politicians who have promised action towards what is one of the most discriminated minorities in Europe - and one which suffers from a particularly hostile environment in Italy.
A 2015 survey by the Pew Research Centre showed that Italy is the EU country with the largest prevalence of unfavourable opinions towards Roma people:
“Anti-Roma views are particularly prevalent among Italians (86 per cent unfavourable) and the French (60 per cent).
“Meanwhile, more than half in Spain (58 per cent), the UK (54 per cent) and Germany (52 per cent) voice a favourable opinion of the Roma. The lowest favourable ratings were in Italy (9 per cent), France (39 per cent) and Poland (41 per cent)”.
In recent years Italy has been severely criticised for violating the human rights of the Roma population, who often live in inhumane conditions inside the so-called “gipsy camps”.
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