“After the formation of the Government we had to quickly define the flows of regular entry into Italy for work reasons relating to the year 2022, and we did so with the Prime Ministerial Decree of 29 December 2022. We subsequently issued the Prime Ministerial Decree of 27 September 2023, which implements the programming of flows for the three-year period 2023-2025, as provided – on an experimental basis – by the so-called Cutro decree. As presidency, and in agreement with all the administrations involved, we have set up a technical table to monitor its application. Now alarming data emerge from that monitoring.” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said this during her briefing to the Council of Ministers on “entry flows of foreigners for work reasons”. “From some regions, above all Campania, we recorded a number of applications for work authorization for non-EU citizens, during the click day, totally disproportionate to the number of potential employers, be they individuals or companies. One piece of data: on permits for seasonal work, i.e. for work in the agricultural or tourism-hotel fields, in 2023, out of a total of 282,000 applications, 157,000 arrive from Campania, while 20,000 arrive from Puglia. Except that, for example in the agricultural sector, Puglia has around 12% of Italian agricultural businesses and Campania only 6%”, added the Prime Minister.
“An even more worrying fact is that given the exorbitant number of applications for authorization, only a minimal percentage of foreigners who obtained a visa for work reasons based on the ‘Flussi decree’ actually signed an employment contract. In Campania, less than 3% of those who enter with a permit then sign an employment contract. However, a significant gap between the number of people entering Italy for work reasons and the employment contracts that are actually stipulated is a characteristic that many Italian regions have in common, albeit with less frightening numbers”, stated Meloni. “In our opinion it means that regular flows of immigrants for work reasons are used as a further channel for irregular immigration. It means that, reasonably, organized crime has infiltrated the management of applications and the “flow decrees” have been used as a mechanism to allow access to Italy, through a formally legal and risk-free route, to people who would not have had any access to Italy. right, probably upon payment of sums of money. According to some sources, up to 15,000 euros per ‘practice'”, explained the Prime Minister.
