Italy, in the hands of populists anti-system and anti-immigration since June, plunged into an annual ranking of democracies, reveals Wednesday a report of a group of experts. The country moved from 21st place last year to 33rd place in the 2018 rankings by The Economist Intelligence Unit , a fall largely related to the actions of the League (far right) of Matteo Salvini, a strongman of the government .
The country suffers from a "profound disillusionment with political institutions". His party joined forces to form a government with the Five-Star Movement (M5S, anti-system) led by Luigi Di Maio, who is however spared from the report. The country suffers from a "deep disillusionment with political institutions, including the parliament and political parties, which is reflected in support of" strong men "bypassing political institutions," the experts describe.
Italy pinned by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Matteo Salvini "has often used anti-foreign rhetoric" and has advocated the evacuation of illegally occupying Roma, despite being condemned by the European Court of Justice, they say. Italy was pinned by the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Chilean Michelle Bachelet, in her first speech in September, the report notes.
Denouncing in particular the decision taken by Matteo Salvini to close the Italian ports to ships that rescued migrants, she announced that a team would visit Italy to assess "the reported sharp increase in acts of violence and racism against migrants, people of African descent and Roma ".
"A risk of deterioration of civil liberties". "All of this contributes to the risk of deteriorating civil liberties," says the Economist Intelligence Unit report. The annual ranking also points to the fact that the Italian government raises new potential dangers to reduce citizens' freedoms. Thus, a new decree-law security and immigration of the Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini was adopted in November. Its main measure abolishes humanitarian residence permits granted until now to vulnerable people, families or single women with children.