That same Europe that sets itself up as the champion of rights and is ready to defend them by waging war against all the world's autocratic regimes, last June 17th approved a new regulation on migrant repatriations that denies people deemed, defined, and effectively classified as inferior some of the fundamental tenets of the rule of law: the right to life, the right to freedom of movement.
The approval of this measure was claimed by the Meloni government as the fruit of its constant action against illegal immigration and human traffickers (sic!). Indeed, to cloak themselves in morality, European leaders have transformed a momentous issue of global injustice | migration resulting from wars, exploitation, and land grabs spawned by their initiatives | into a problem of public order and the fight against human degeneration. What could be more reprehensible than trafficking (in its negative sense), and even human trafficking? Thus, the falsification of reality is achieved by shifting attention from the issue itself to the actions of a few "unscrupulous" individuals who exploit the weakness and need of others. In a society where guilt and the guilty are the linchpin of a system that focuses on symptoms and ignores the causes, it is easy to shift all responsibility onto traffickers and criminal groups and completely conceal the plight of those forced to flee their lands. Migrants shouldn't be helped, for example by allowing them to move freely, or by ending wars fomented by imperialist logic, or by preventing the exploitation of territories and people by large and small multi- or mononational corporations. Simply jailing smugglers and traffickers will solve the problem and improve our moral standing.The regulation, approved by 418 votes in favor, 218 against, and 30 abstentions, provides a simple explanation, given its repressive and moralistic nature. The first new provision concerns the so-called "European Return Order," meaning that expulsions issued in one member state apply to all others. Therefore, if a migrant deemed illegal and expelled from one EU country moves to another, the expulsion order remains valid and a new procedure does not need to be started. Persons subject to an expulsion order can also be held, before being expelled, in designated centers for 12 months, which in some cases can be extended to 24 months and further extended by another 6 months for a total of 30 months. Currently, there are 10 repatriation centers in Italy | CPRs | and individuals can be held there for up to 18 months.
The other major innovation in the regulation is the "return hubs," essentially the system tested (and failed) by the Italian government in Albania. Meloni and company are nonetheless so proud of this system, claiming it as a success that the EU has adopted it, a demonstration of Italy's centrality in the international context! Thus, individual EU countries can enter into agreements, of which they must inform other EU members, with third countries to which they can divert migrants for expulsion. Formally, these other countries must respect international law and human rights, and not promote pushbacks to countries that endanger the lives of those expelled. Finally, a moralizing note could not be missed: migrants are asked to cooperate in their own expulsion, as good people who respect laws that condemn them. Moreover, the European legislator writes in the preamble to the regulation: "It is appropriate to establish an effective common return procedure that is rigorous to ensure that third-country nationals who do not fulfil, or no longer fulfil, the conditions for entry, stay or residence on the territory of the Member States are returned in a humane and sustainable manner and in full respect of fundamental rights and international law without undue delay."
Europe once again demonstrates itself as a fortress that ferociously expels the unwanted while cynically exploiting the labor force useful for the processes of accumulation. However, the response to this Europe's not-so-veiled racism must not be moralistic, lamenting the inhumanity and cynicism of poor policies in the name of inconsistent and vacuous principles: acceptance, integration, and so on. Western states, especially in modern times, have been built on a racial foundation, built on apartheid and exploitation. In Italy, immigration policies for the past thirty years have perpetuated this pattern: migrants as subhuman, acceptable only for economic gain, superficial integration, and solely repressive responses to conflicts. In this (as in other fields) the right and left have not differentiated themselves: from the Turco-Napolitano law to the Bossi-Fini law, to the subsequent measures of Salvini or Minniti, to the indulgences of the Five Star Movement or the Democratic Party, it has all been an ideological (and concrete) construction that sees the migrant as functional to the system or a criminal to be expelled.
On the other hand, what can we expect from a Europe that has certainly veered toward the far right in recent years, yet was conceived from the outset as a tool for strengthening power and capital, regardless of all the trifles (as the good Totò once said) and superficial differentiations? We're often fed the slogan: the Europe of banks and multinationals must be replaced by a Europe of the people (but one could also say, a world of peoples, after all!). But to build a Europe of the people, we would need a radical break with the current system, with governments, state apparatuses, and economic powers; otherwise, these are merely statements useful for maintaining the status quo. The challenge, then, for us, for those who wish to subvert the order of things, is to begin to blunt the EU fetish, between a right that renationalizes itself for a greater hold on the lower classes and a left that is falsely internationalist and now solely capitalist.
Angelo Barberi
https://www.sicilialibertaria.it/wp-content/uploads/luglioAgosto2026_compressed.pdf
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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