By Vipul Gupta
Europe, for the past one year, has been at the centre stage of the immigration debate. With the right-wing politicians hijacking the much-needed discussion and steering it towards an ?anti-immigrant? stance, the centrist and leftist parties in fear of an electoral loss have almost toned down their rhetoric. But unlike in France, Netherlands, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries, where the right-wing parties succeeded in getting massive electoral successes but failed to form governments, the Italian general elections might have finally opened the doors for a right-wing ruled Europe. It is important to note here that all these electoral successes of the far-right are at the behest of anti-immigration, anti-European Union and anti-globalisation sentiments that have been surging all across Europe. ?
Italy?s love for refugees
With a huge coastline exposed to the mediterranean sea, Italy acts as the entry point for African and Syrian Refugees into Europe. Many times, the refugees are rescued from the mediterranean sea by the Italian Navy with the assistance of EU and UNHCR. Since 2013, more than 85 percent people saved in such missions have been staying in Italy, taking their population in Italy to a whopping 600,000. What strikes the most to the Italians is that 1 in every 100 residents of Italy is an African or Syrian refugee. Moreover, 1 in every 11 residents is foreign-born. ?
The reason behind these high number of refugees is the geographical location of Italy. The coastline of Italy directly exposes it to countries like Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Algeria, all of which have faced huge political instabilities in the last one decade. The reason why the public anger has been increasing against refugees is that the Italian government has been quite generous in rescuing and then accepting them. Moreover, left-ruled Italy has failed to come up with a clear-cut policy on dealing with refugees and other illegal immigrants.
What did Italians choose?
Italy has been reeling under high unemployment, with an unemployment rate of 11.1percent???a little more than European Union?s average of 11 percent. It also has five million foreign-born ?citizens? living in the country. Unlike other nations like USA, UK, Germany and Spain, Italy?s unemployment rate has been rising steadily since the 2008 financial crisis. All of which, coupled with massive government debts, slated at 132 percent of GDP (2016-17), has left Italy with an ailing economy. The election campaign this time, too, reflected the frustration of the general public with the poor state of the economy ? which in itself is a crisis in making.
These elections saw three major political coalitions of Italy battling for the ultimate majority. The Centre-Left led by the incumbent Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, the Centre-Right led by Matteo Salvini and supported by ex-PM Silvio Berlusconi and the anti-establishment party- Five Star Movement led by a 31-year old Luigi Di Maio.
To everyone’s surprise, Five Star Movement emerged as the single largest political party with a vote share of 32 percent but was still far from the majority mark. The centre-right alliance bagged a vote share of 37 percent, out of which Salvini?s League got an 18 percent share and Silvio?s Forza Italia got 14 percent votes. The incumbent left was left in disarray with a reduced share of 22 percent.
The results of the elections evidently show that with a surge in right-wing vote share, the Italian frustration was meted out against immigrants and the ruling-left coalition. The populist campaigns, too, made sure to maximize the benefits out of the refugee crisis by pinpointing the blame of every problem on the increasing number of refugees.
The future of refugees
The fear of deportation amongst the refugees has been increasing ever since the election night. And as the parties start negotiating with each other, it is becoming more and more evident that the main points of contention are Italy?s future in European Union, Immigration laws, unemployment rates and the increasing crime rates. Unfortunately, the Italian politics has brought the refugees at the centre stage of all of these issues.
In an attempt to find a common agenda both the centre-right coalition and the Five-Star Movement have made it clear that the foremost task their governments will do is of deporting the 600,000 ?illegal? immigrants residing in Italy. Though the leaders of the centre-left coalition, which can play as the Kingmakers have openly denounced the rumours of a possible alliance with the Five Star Movement, an official statement from its leader, Matteo Renzi is still pending.
Patterns across Europe
In 2017, four major EU countries went to poll- France, Netherlands, UK, and Germany. Both France?s Marine Le Pen and Netherlands? Geert Wilders, who represent the rising anti-EU and anti-immigrant sentiment in their countries, were able to rally millions of supporters for their cause. Since then, both of them have been pushing their agenda quite aggressively in their respective nations, while in the shoes of primary opposition. Similar sentiments were felt in Germany, where an alt-right political party- AfD, was elected to the German Parliament for the first time since World War II.
The United Kingdom too, unexpectedly, gave a fractured mandate, showing signs of polarisation on similar lines. Apart from these four nations, the rest of the EU is also struggling with the debate on immigration laws- whether to close their doors or not? Amidst this, what has been visible is apathy towards immigrants and an attempt to deviate from the question of inclusive societies. Italian elections have shown us that a constructive discussion on the moral and financial cost of dealing with refugees needs to be done on a global platform, and too within an enthusiasm similar to the Paris Agreement.
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