The government's security decree containing an incentive for lawyers who get migrants to opt for voluntary repatriation was approved by parliament amid opposition protests Friday while a corrective decree to extend the incentive to other operators such as mediators was approved by the cabinet to hopefully meet Constitutional strictures voiced by President Sergio Mattarella.
The security decree, which was set to lapse Saturday if not approved, was passed while opposition politicians sang WWII Resistance anthem 'Bella Ciao', waved placards saying "Our security is the Constitution", and also held up poppies to recall Liberation Day Saturday when Italy remembers being liberated by the Allies in the Second World War.
Premier Giorgia Meloni has dismissed opposition claims the government made a mess by framing an unconstitutional decree that had to be immediately amended by another emergency decree.
Meloni said issues raised by Mattarella over the controversial €615 incentive for the lawyers of migrants who choose to return to their countries of origin voluntarily had been fixed via the separate decree.
"We're bringing together some technical considerations from the president's office and from lawyers regarding the security decree, which I don't consider a mess," Meloni told reporters during a visit to Milan's Salone del Mobile furniture-and-design fair earlier this week.
