Meloni’s Immigration Measures for Schools
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced plans to introduce legislation aimed at limiting the number of foreign students in classrooms and banning full-face coverings in schools.
Speaking at the Fenix festival, an annual youth event organized by the youth wing of her Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, Meloni expressed her concern that Italian children should not be outnumbered in their own classrooms.
“It’s unthinkable that in an Italian classroom, Italian children feel cornered because they’ve become the minority. It can’t be done,” she stated. To address this, Meloni indicated that her Council of Ministers would soon push for a law capping the number of foreign students in classes.
She also proposed a “requirement” for parents of foreign students who struggle to integrate, mandating them to learn Italian. Additionally, she called for a ban on burqas and niqabs in schools, framing it as a matter of civilization.
“We go to school with our faces uncovered, and in Italy, no one, in the name of a real or presumed tradition, can decide that a young woman must hide. Gender equality is non-negotiable,” she added.
Having recently achieved recognition for her extended term in post-war Italy, Meloni seems focused on solidifying her stance on immigration ahead of next year’s elections.
While her government has made strides in curbing illegal immigration through the Mediterranean route, which sees reduced numbers during her tenure, she faces criticism for not fulfilling her earlier, tougher campaign promises. During her 2022 election run, she had suggested deploying the Navy to combat human smuggling and unauthorized NGO activities in the region.
Instead of direct military action, Meloni has worked to build international agreements, particularly within the European Union, to tackle the migrant crisis. This has included negotiations with countries like Egypt and Tunisia to combat human trafficking in exchange for favorable trade arrangements.
Furthermore, her administration has been a significant proponent of establishing third-party country asylum centers, designed to allow for the immediate deportation of illegal migrants, rather than allowing them to remain within EU borders during asylum processing.
Although Italy had initially attempted to set up such centers unilaterally with Albania, legal challenges have hindered those efforts. Nevertheless, her party has been instrumental in pushing for the legal framework needed for this initiative within the European Parliament.
Currently, Meloni is collaborating with Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and other EU nations to create the first of these third-party centers.
Domestically, she faces pressure from the right; former Italian Army general Roberto Vannacci has started the Futuro Nazionale party to advocate for a stringent remigration policy. Vannacci welcomed Meloni’s recent measures but noted they should have been implemented years ago.
