Ten would be the programmatic points announced by Ursula von der Leyen during her visit to Lampedusa in the company of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. There appear to be ten types of intervention announced relating to the different aspects of the immigration phenomenon which, indeed, and probably, could have been implemented and materialised, not only over the course of the previous years, as the problem is well known, but as less, even wanting to concede everything, starting from the day after the signing, in the month of July just ended, of the so-called "memorandum" of understanding with Tunisia for the fight against illegal trafficking of migrants.

Because, let's be clear, there is no question, in theory, about the announced desire (and concrete actions on the part of the Union will have to be achieved) to want to proceed in the direction of intensifying the efforts of the European Union itself for the transfer of migrants from Lampedusa to other destinations, at the same time urging Member States to activate the voluntary solidarity mechanism to welcome them, but nothing has been said, or even timidly announced, with respect to the "modus operandi" that the President of the Commission intends to implement, or even just suggest, to make the various "transfers" concretely feasible, the management of which, evidently, far from being left to the "sensitivity" and/or spontaneous initiative of the other Member States, should instead become an incontrovertible rule without which (as seems easy understand), everything could be destined to remain a dead letter, with all understandable consequences also in terms of the efficiency of the announcement.

Likewise, there would not appear to be any element of novelty , at least in theory, in President von der Leyen's statement when that statement, in its substantial content, was limited, among other things, to underlining the intention of wanting to offer alternatives valid for illegal routes through a strengthening of the so-called humanitarian corridors, as "the most effective measure to counteract the lies of traffickers and break the vicious circle".

In other words: what would have prevented over the years ago, having been repeatedly invoked by Italian politics, from proceeding with the activation of the humanitarian corridors and which today would be an obstacle overcome, making the implementation of the mechanism possible? Better to clarify: Ursula von der Leyen does not appear to have indicated the finalized "how" oriented towards the concrete implementation of the ten points announced which, in truth, in terms of the contents considered in and of themselves, do not appear to contain any new elements. Meanwhile, because the management of the repatriation of irregular migrants seems to have been made very complex by the very difficult cooperation with the countries of origin currently in question, the Italian Government appears to intend to entrust the management of departures through bilateral agreements. Therefore, why, unless I am mistaken, up to now, it would seem that the various actions implemented by the European Union to encourage cooperation in the field of readmission, although technically appropriate in theory, have failed to guarantee consequent results. Finally, because it would most likely be necessary, and even appropriate, in a more general context, to preliminarily strengthen the synergistic capacity of the Members of the Union who, in their entirety, should offer their active intervention also in the actual negotiation of the readmissions within the third countries of origin.

In the absence of a synergistic action aimed in this direction, it will be difficult for the European Union to be able to regulate and control a phenomenon, such as migration, which has always existed . Without prejudice to the fact that precisely on the question of the effective protection of migrants and refugees, both within the territory of the Member States and outside it, through the practices dictated by the law and by the various International Conventions on the matter, it will be decided and evaluated the current and future credibility of the European Union in terms of its real desire to respect human rights and to be a community based on the so-called rule of law, as well as, and consequently, the credibility of the Italian Government, especially in view of the upcoming European. And again without prejudice to the fact that in the management of the phenomenon, and in the management of initiatives useful to combat and regulate it, neither Italy nor the European Union should forget to take into due consideration the lessons offered at the time by the Grand Chamber of the Court European Union of Human Rights, which, on 23 February 2012, in the Hirsi Jamaa and others case, had unanimously condemned Italy for violation of the art. 3 (double), of the art. 4 Protocol no. 4, as well as art. 13 (in connection with the two previous articles) of the European Charter of Human Rights.

Libya yesterday and Tunisia today could not, and probably cannot, be considered safe havens, because, barring a mistake, they would not appear to recognize the Geneva Convention on refugees. Furthermore, humanitarian ships, contrary to what some might be led to believe, do not appear to constitute a factor of attraction for anyone who wants to leave abandoning their country of origin as they are indeed useful in promoting, with their intervention activity, greater coordination in rescue at sea between different European countries. In short: all things considered, words, however reassuring they may be at the time they are uttered, are not enough on their own, we need to move on to facts, concretely envisaging cogent measures, binding for all countries that favor the dynamics of useful management of policies migratory. The Visegrad countries and their allies in the European complex will necessarily have to agree with the modification of the Dublin agreements on the first landing rule, because that seems to be the prerequisite for any useful change. And in this sense the Government led by Giorgia Meloni must commit itself.

The answer cannot be bilateral agreements with the states of departure given and considering the immediate outcome that the one signed only about a month ago with Tunisia seems to have had. The time has come for concrete actions, and the Italian Government and the European Union as a whole must work on their preparation and implementation.

Giuseppina Di Salvatore – Lawyer, Nuoro

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