Italy's Berlusconi cracks whip on immigrants

By Stephen Brown

ROME (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi's new right-wing government is preparing tough emergency legislation to tighten screening of immigrants -- especially Roma people from Eastern Europe whom many in Italy blame for crime.

The plan could include reimposing border checks despite Italy's membership of the European Union passport-free Schengen zone, making illegal immigration a jailable offence, speeding up deportations and turning holding centers into detention camps.

As the 71-year-old billionaire began a third term as prime minister, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni from the anti-immigrant Northern League said he wanted parliament to give "preferential treatment" to the planned new laws.

Reinforcing concerns abroad that the real target are Roma people from Eastern Europe, the ruling right is also promoting special "Roma commissioners" in some cities to look after the regulation and welfare of people known in Italy as "nomads".

Earlier this week, Romanian Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu warned that the plan, which would make illegal migration a crime punishable by up to four years' jail, could fan xenophobic attitudes towards his country.

Italy has since acted to reassure Romania that its citizens are not targeted.

The Italian capital's new right-wing mayor Gianni Alemmano, once a neo-fascist youth leader who now describes himself as a mainstream conservative, said the city would soon have its own "Roma commissioner" like the northern industrial centre, Milan.

Locals recently set fire to two Roma camps in Naples -- previously evacuated by police -- after a 17-year old Roma girl was accused of trying to kidnap an Italian baby.

Berlusconi told parliament even leftist mayors backed strict controls on immigration, not just those from the Northern League.

VIGILANTES WARNING

One local mayor from Giugliano near Naples said the presence of 13 Roma camps was impoverishing his town of 110,000 people as the threat of robbery scared off business and even military personnel from the NATO base in Naples would not live locally.

"Nothing justifies violence, but the uncontrolled presence of Roma people in our town has held up economic development," said Giovanni Pianese. "Our doors are open to gypsies who live honestly, but those who live by cunning and crime must go."

Centre-left opposition leader Walter Veltroni, defeated by Berlusconi last month, told parliament that his Democratic Party backed quicker expulsions of illegal immigrants, but added: "Beware of immigrant hunts, beware of vigilantes."

He warned the new government: "Don't think the country is in your pocket, as 19 million citizens didn't vote for you".

But Berlusconi's inaugural performance struck such consensus that one Veltroni ally, former anti-graft magistrate Antonio Di Pietro, said: "I'm the only one left in the opposition."