Development & Aid, Europe, Headlines, Human Rights, Migration & Refugees, Population

MIGRATION-ITALY: Where to Pay Tax, But Not Vote

Sabina Zaccaro

ROME, Apr 11 2008 (IPS) - Millions of migrants settled in Italy will be only spectators to the election due this weekend.

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The country of 58 million has about four million regular migrants, of which three million are residents. Six in 10 immigrants or people of immigrant origin are settled in the northern regions, roughly a million in the central areas, and more than half a million in the south, according to official figures.

“The integration process is going better in the north and centre of Italy, and less well in the south,” says the last migrants integration index, released annually by the National Council of Economy and Work (Cnel).

Cnel has drafted a list of the most effective regions and provinces of Italy on indicators such as attracting foreigners, social stability and work inclusion.

In Rome, which has about 250,000 migrants, the employment rate is relatively high at 73.5 percent of the adult migration population. Immigrants are principally employed in the building sector and in services such as domestic work and care, hotels and computing enterprises.

“These numbers are good, and are the result of regularisation efforts,” says Italy’s Labour Minister Cesare Damiano.

Despite such progress, studies commissioned by the ministry of interior show that most Italians (85 percent) overestimate the number of irregular migrants, and consider migrants a threat to their security.

“It is a problem of misinformation; in many cases these concerns are not supported by facts,” says Maria Grazia Mitruzzi who lives in Rome’s Esquiline district, where native Italians are a minority.

The multi-ethnic area surrounding Piazza Vittorio and the Esquilino has a high immigrant population, including what is becoming Rome’s Chinatown. The renowned local food market here is managed by immigrant workers.

Mitruzzi, buying fish at a stall managed by a boy from Bangladesh, says that while politicians talk about security issues and criminality, integration at the grassroots is already a reality.

“I have two children,” she said, pointing to a boy by her side. “He’s the little one, and my older son is 12. Their schoolmates are of all nationalities, and this is normal to them; there’s no difference between Italian children and Chinese, or Bangladeshi or the many Spanish-speaking children.”

The little boy says his best friend at school is from Ecuador. “I think this is a value added for their growth,” Mitruzzi said. “Of course language difficulties and other kind of problems pose some challenge to teachers and students, but I see that as a positive thing.”

She said she was earlier anxious about coming to live in this quarter. “I was concerned about security. But we have now lived here 11 years, and we find peaceful co-existence. There’s less crime here such as theft and snatchings.”

Jobs is the key factor. “For many immigrants, finding a job is still very hard because of the bureaucratic burden, and when you find a job you still have difficulty finding a place to live,” said Raphael, 54, a male nurse from Ethiopia.

Raphael works in a Rome hospital and has lived in Italy 20 years. “Many immigrants have found social integration, but they’ve got there on their own; Italian law and politics give very little help.”

“In all these years I have not seen any commitment (by the government) oriented to integration,” says Valentino, a Peruvian living in Italy the last 14 years. “And if one of us does something against the law, all the others pay for it.”

Many immigrants say the large number of foreign-born candidates put up by centre-left parties for the general elections due this week is a positive sign.

If all immigrants in political parties’ lists for the parliament and the senate are elected, the lower house of the parliament would have three foreign born deputies and one senator, one more than in the previous legislature.

But immigrants who have not acquired Italian citizenship cannot vote, though they can have representatives on the city councils. Several candidates of foreign origin are contesting municipal elections in Rome, being held the same weekend as the general election in many regions.

Only immigrants from countries that are a part of the European Union since 1996 are eligible to vote, and only in the municipal elections.

According to the Statistical Dossier on Immigration published annually by the Catholic charity Caritas and the Rome-base1d Migrantes foundation, of the 250,000 regular migrants living in Rome (mainly from Romania, the Philippines, Poland and Peru), 17 percent are from EU countries.

Of the three million regular migrants living in Italy, only 1 percent have Italian citizenship. Getting citizenship is a particularly restrictive process.

“It is good that we have some candidates, but my question is whether they have any real chance of gathering enough votes – considering the scarce resources they have for campaigning – and if Italian politicians really want immigrant representatives within the institutions,” said Raphael.

Politicians of all parties should consider that immigrants contribute to Italy’s growth, he said. “Like the tradesmen here in Piazza Vittorio, they are regular, they pay taxes, they have lived as Italian citizens for many years, their children were born here…but they cannot vote.”

 
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