Beyond populism: ignorance or mala fide
After the recent elections, one Italian friend was telling me that she is scouting for a new citizenship; another one disappointed uttered ‘Arrivederci Roma’. As Adi discusses – in Romanian – we see a trend towards “an European neo-fascism”. Indeed Mr. Alemanno, the newly elected mayor of Rome confirmed he is a man of honour and will keep his electoral promise by jumpstarting his mandate with the ‘immediate expulsion’ of the 20,000 immigrants in the city with criminal records… a measure intended to make Rome more secure, of course. I do give Mr. Alemanno the benefit of the doubt, he is surely not an ignorant nor is he acting in bad faith he simply is a populist – to be read fascist.
Mr. Frattini’s announced intention to ship back ‘home’ those immigrants that cannot prove they are earning a certain wage left me… thunderstruck. Mr. Frattini – probably the future foreign minister of Italy – although currently on holidays, continues to be the EU Commissioner responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security. I have to assume, given that he acted in this capacity during the last 3 ½ years that he was at least aware if not an expert in EU legislation on the topics covered by his mandate. When we the non EU Commissioners, go on holidays – as Mr. Frattini did for the last month or so – we don’t just become ignorants, we do not forget the job–related knowledge, or do we? Hence, clearly the EU Commissioner responsible not only for Security but also for Justice and Freedom must be familiar with articles 27 and 28 of the EU Citizens’ Directive 2004, i.e. an EU citizen can only be expelled on “grounds of public policy, public security or public health”. In addition to the rigorous safeguards entailed by the two articles, existent European and national case law interpret this directive in a very strict manner; public security is to be read not merely as petty crime! Even serious crimes are weighed against, for example, the offender’s right to protection of family life.
But, why am I throwing words away on this issue?! Common sense tells me Mr. Frattini is not an ignorant. Well, he must be acting in mala fide. The one of the most disgusting sort: post-electoral mala fide…
