Migrants, the mayor of Prato attacks the government, but rejected the center

In the Democratic Party, divisions are the order of the day, but what is happening between the party and its regional and local administrators surpasses even the wildest imagination. On the one hand, there is a party that preaches acceptance, on the other, there are governors and mayors who complain about new arrivals. Leader of this protest, Matteo Biffoni, mayor of Prato, who a few days ago discussed with the Ministry of the Interior. «Local administrations cannot guarantee compliance with the conditions established by law with these numbers and the responsibility lies with the central State. There are no first-reception centres, there are no resources for cultural mediation,” said the mayor of Tuscany and head of immigration at Anci (Association of Italian Municipalities).

A controversy that the Ministry of the Interior defined as “surreal”. “The state of emergency decreed by the government was rejected by the regions governed by the left. Why didn’t they join? Don’t the mayors talk to the governors?». And again “as for the criticism of unaccompanied minors, it must be said that the system is governed by the “Zampa law”, a member of the Democratic Party who promoted it”. That law entrusted the Municipalities with the task of guaranteeing the reception of unaccompanied minors, moreover «enormously reducing the possibility of ascertaining the real age of so-called minors by the public authorities and thus causing an exponential increase of foreign children who declare minors in the moment of disembarkation, to take advantage of the opportunities that this law offers them» writes from Viminale.

The dem mayors complain about an invasion that, however, looking at the numbers, does not exist. Since the beginning of the year, 86,852 migrants have landed in Sicily, while 962 have arrived in Tuscany. And in Prato, in particular, there are 455 migrants welcomed by the CAS, 0.21% of the resident population of 258,459 migrants. The only one that received less in Tuscany is only Pistoia with 270, 0.15% of residents. Not only. Prato City Council reportedly strongly opposed the Mayor’s proposal to create a reception center for unaccompanied foreign minors seeking international protection. Thus, in case of arrival of unaccompanied minors, the Prato Region Health Society, chaired by the Deputy Mayor of Prato Simone Faggi, will continue to assist them. Numbers that, however, do not return to the mayor of Prato who replies: “It is false that we did not want the CAS for minors: it is the responsibility of the Ministry and a procedure is currently open for identifying a structure managed by the City Hall”. The issue, according to the mayor, is that after the Cutro decree, the collaboration and transitions from Cas to Sai (Reception and Integration System) «became complicated by dividing the reception system in two and losing the value of integration between managed structures by the State and those administered by the Municipalities”. Perhaps, but in the meantime, like the other dem mayors, he took up arms against the newcomers