Matteo Piantedosi is the new interior minister of Italy. He considers 'governing migration' a priority. Who is the minister in charge of most asylum and migration issues?
Matteo Piantedosi was sworn in on Saturday (October 23) as Italy's interior minister -- the cabinet position in charge of most issues concerning asylum and migration.
He listed migration flows, a phenomenon which will "need to be governed", as one of his priorities as minister, along with several other issues.
Piantedosi said there was a need to manage migration by boosting cooperation with European partners to promote and increase initiatives in the countries of origin and transit of migrants. Migration to Italy has increased significantly over the past two years -- so far this year, there were 77,000 reported sea landings, while the number of sea arrivals in all of 2021 did not exceed 70,000 (but nearly doubled compared to 2020).
Paintedosi is part of a new government led by Giorgia Meloni. The coalition of the far-right parties Brothers of Italy and League and the more centrist right-wing Forza Italia is considered the most right-wing government since the fall of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.
Piantedosi: Technocrat and Matteo Salvini ally
Piantedosi -- a Naples-born, 59-year-old father to two daughters with a law degree -- was chosen as a minister by the League party. He is considered to be a technocrat -- he has worked in the civil service for a long time and is not affiliated with a party. But he is also seen as an ally of League head Matteo Salvini, who will serve as deputy premier and infrastructure minister in the new cabinet.
Piantedosi worked as chief of staff of then-interior minister Salvini from June 2018 to September 2019, translating Salvini's goal to crack down on migrant arrivals into policies. Salvini pursued a hardline anti-migrant 'closed ports' policy and issued security decrees that reduced access to international protection for asylum seekers, among other things.
Chief of staff for interior ministers Salvini, Lamorgese
Together with Salvini, Piantedosi was initially investigated by prosecutors in the Sicilian city of Agrigento on charges of abduction, illegal arrest and abuse of office in the case of the Diciotti coast guard vessel (which was not granted permission to disembark migrants rescued in August 2018 in a standoff with the EU). But he was subsequently removed from the list of people under investigation while the Senate's immunity panel voted against granting a request from criminal prosecutors to proceed with charges against Salvini over the case.
Piantedosi continued to serve as the interior minister's chief of staff when moderate technocrat Luciana Lamorgese took over the interior ministry in September 2019. He left the role in August 2020, when he was appointed prefect of Rome. For the past two years, he served in that role.
With Reuters