Much ado about nothing? Giorgia Meloni’s government and immigration

Abstract

Italy as an immigration country has been characterized by high rates of irregular migration due to the weak legal admission channels available and the combination of apowerful internal demand of foreign workers and intense external pressure on itsborders. Despite the growing salience of migration issues in the political arena, the country has shown a marked inertia in addressing the structural causes of the phenomenon. The gap between political grandstanding and effective governance hasbeen highlighted by numerous studies. This article analyses the first year of Giorgia Meloni’s government by assessing the coherence between the highly restrictive electoral promises and the implemented policies, and by weighing the degree of novelty of its approach in relation to migration management over the last twenty years. Results show that, beyond the multiplication of proclamations and emergency interventions with respect to recurring border crises, there has been an overall pragmatic and rather open attitude, far from the radical stances of the opposition years. In addition, the full confirmation of that model of ‘reluctant openness’ that has characterized the Italian approach to immigration, combining irregularity as the main route of access with an almost complete overlook of other important dimensions like migrants’ integration.