Italian PM Meloni’s party proposes swift deportation of foreign offenders
ROME, July 8 (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing party submitted a draft bill on Wednesday to encourage the repatriation of convicted foreign criminals and facilitate their stripping of Italian citizenship.
• According to the proposal, all non-EU persons sentenced to more than one year in prison would be deported to their home countries, regardless of whether they consented or not.
• At the press conference held in Parliament, members of Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party said that the deportations would take place within the scope of bilateral agreements to be negotiated with the relevant countries.
• Offenders will have only limited grounds to object to deportation, including the risk of inhumane treatment or the death penalty in their home country.
• Repatriated prisoners will be banned from returning to Italy.
• Italy’s Brethren MP Sara Kelany said the proposal would also expand the scope of crimes that could lead to the revocation of foreign national criminals’ Italian citizenship.
• Parliament is separately discussing a proposal by coalition partner the League that would tighten citizenship requirements and make it easier to lose Italian citizenship.
• With parliamentary elections due next year, the Italian League and the Brotherhood face pressure from Futuro Nazionale, an emerging far-right anti-immigration movement that polls suggest has attracted support from both parties.
(Reporting by Angelo Amante, Editing by Gareth Jones)
