In my recent post on the Italian Immigration crisis I criticized the Italian prime minister Berlusconi for being too busy with his many trials to deal with the dramatic immigration problem of Lampedusa.Well I stand corrected, today the Italian Prime Minister has practically guaranteed to solve the problem in 60 hours, for all those politicians who aspire to have the same decisive qualities of Mr. Berlusconi below is the recipe for a 60 hours fix of the immigration issue:During a lightning visit to Lampedusa, Berlusconi told cheering locals the following:
He will offer tax breaks to island's resident. He will empty the island of immigrants within 60 hours with six ferries to pick up the remaining 6000 migrants.
He will nominate locals for a Nobel peace prize (to award their patience).
He will buy a holiday home there (perfect setting for his bunga bunga parties).
He will push for the construction of a casino and a golf course.
He is buying fishing boats from smugglers so they cannot be used for immigration crossings adding and I quote: "That way when I am out of politics I will use them to set up a fresh fish business."
He will use his private TV channels to promote the relaunch of tourism in Lampedusa, while surfing the internet before his visit, he added, he had purchased a beach house on Lampedusa, which he visited before leaving the island.
He also asked the mayor to plant a few more trees on the island and paint the houses with brighter colours.
So far this year 18,000 north African migrants have sailed to the island, which has only 5,000 native inhabitants.
Berlusconi is now seeking to convince Italy's regional governors to put up the migrants he will bring from Lampedusa to the Italian mainland for the cheering of not only the people of Lampedusa but also for the immigrants who can save hitch a ride to their next destination.
Over 3,000 who have already escaped from the mainland makeshift camps have travelled to Ventimiglia seeking to cross into France, where many have relatives.
In order to repatriate them as stated by Interior Minister Maroni, Italy will need to identify each migrant (they will not have any documents on them) and serve an expulsion order, which can be appealed against ( an appeal in Italy can take years and they will not be able to be expelled until a verdict is reached).
Maroni has warned that the Tunisians may be just a warm up for 50,000 migrants fleeing the war in Libya.
