Migrant reception managed at local
level is the best solution to resolving the current migrant
crisis, but the government needs to help municipalities to
receive the people it sends them, Bologna Mayor Matteo Lepore
said on Wednesday.
"Bologna is a city that welcomes (migrants) and wants to
continue to welcome (them) in the best possible way, because we
believe that this is the solution to the sea arrival emergency,
and not sending people away with naval blockades that, as we
have already seen this summer, are neither feasible nor
effective," said Lepore.
However, "if the state sends us migrants, it must also put us in
the condition to receive them", he continued, announcing a
meeting with the Special Commissioner on Migration Valerio
Valenti on September 1 "because we want to work with the
government.
One possible solution, said Lepore, could be to "unblock the
turnover of people in reception", referring to new arrivals who
often remain in government-run first-line reception centres "for
years".
Second-tier reception providing integration and inclusion
services is instead managed by the municipalities, "allowing
first-tier reception centres to be emptied and people to be
included in integration programmes".
This, said Lepore, "has always worked in Bologna", despite the
large number of people in second-tier reception in the city.
"I believe that the debate on immigration should be removed from
ideological battles because it affects people's lives.
If we agree on that, we will find a solution," he concluded.
Photo: Bologna Mayor Matteo Lepore confers honorary citizenship
on freed Egyptian doctoral student Patrick Zaki.
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