Italy is increasingly resorting to aid towards those countries which to a larger degree had been producing migration flows as well as joint cooperation on specific police, border control, and fight to illegal migration and trafficking. Specific agreements have been set up with at least 27 countries for readmission of their citizens once they are expelled from Italian borders.

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taly’s geographic position in the middle of the Mediterranean makes it a natural promoter of iterated international cooperation policies to regulate inflow of migrants fight illegal migration and set up joint programs for border controls.

The European Union is, slowly and sometimes confusingly, setting up joint policies on freedom of movement within the European space and immigration control at its external borders through a number of means. Amongst them are not just police and migration regulation measures but also farther reaching policies towards countries of origin and transit of migrants, aimed at addressing at the roots the causes of migration. The EU Seville summit of June 2002 has indicated amongst the objective of the Union a "integrated, global an balanced approach to face up to the deep causes of immigration". Amongst the tools that the EU leaders have chosen are economic cooperation, development of commercial exchanges and prevention of conflicts in countries which are already origin to flows of migrants or are likely to become such.

Within this framework Italy has been at the forefront of action both within and through the tools of the EU and through bilateral and multilateral agreements, including Conventions with ACP countries, Euro-Mediterranean Agreements and Accession and pre-accession Agreements. Other agreements relate to patrol of ports where immigrants most commonly depart from countries of origin to prevent their departure. In the context of international agreements, for instance, it has been reported from Turkish government sources that up to 90,000 arrests in 2000 and 58,000 in 2001 where made by the Turkish authorities of prospective undocumented migrants about to leave its ports towards Greece and Italy on the basis of agreements between Turkey and the EU.

The only wide-ranging bilateral agreement which is already operational to this date, is the agreement of 18 November 1998, with Albania. This agreement has been hailed as a success on a route, the one from Albania to the southeastern shores of Italy, where for years the traffic of illegal immigrants, as well as of drugs and illicit traffic has been very strong. The agreement, on whose blueprint new agreements are being discussed with North African countries, where, to a large extent trafficking has moved regulates inflows of seasonal workers from Albania to Italy, followed the serious institutional and economic crisis of 1997 in Albania which had led to a higher flow of migrants from Albania itself. The agreement couples aid and technical assistance to rebuild State structures, with preferential access to a number of workers in including seasonal workers to Italy, to assistance and aid towards joint patrolling of the Albanian shores by Italian and Albanian Navy.

Italy is increasingly resorting to aid towards those countries which to a larger degree had been producing migration flows as well as joint cooperation on specific police, border control, and fight to illegal migration and trafficking. Specific agreements have been set up with at least 27 countries for readmission of their citizens once they are expelled from Italian borders.

Within law 189/2002 provisions exist for cooperation and technical assistance for border controls and fight to illegal immigration with neighbor and other countries [ITA_189_02_11.4]. A new provision relates to the possibility to restrict entry and/or access to work to those migrants who are citizens of States which do not cooperate in the fight to illegal migration. Also the new law provides for reintegration in the countries of origin (with cooperation with the authorities of such countries) of certain categories of workers.

In the wake of very recent inflows of illegal migrants to Sicily and its minor islands from North Africa, particularly from ports in Libya, especially of African migrants and refugees, many of them escaping war situations such as in Liberia or Sudan, Italy has signed in June 2003 an initial cooperation agreement with Libyan authorities which is intended to open the way to a similar set up as the one created with Albania which ahs greatly contributed to reduce inflows and helped in the fight against illegal migration and trafficking.

Analysis provided by: Antonella C. Attardo PhD (History of Law), Italy.

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