Rome, (EFE).- Italy, which is going through an unprecedented birth crisis, cannot “give in to the idea of ethnic substitution” to maintain its economic and social system, said Tuesday the Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, Francesco Lollobrigida, in statements that the opposition leader, Elly Schlein, described as “disgusting.”
We must “build a welfare that allows people to work and have a family, support young couples to find employment. We cannot give in to the idea of ethnic substitution, Italians have fewer children so we replace them with others, that is not the way,” said Lollobrigida, who is the brother-in-law of the prime minister, the far-right Giorgia Meloni.
Although he later explained that he considered immigration “a natural physiological fact” and recalled that he himself was “the grandson of an emigrant”, his words have generated enormous controversy, particularly among the opposition led by Schlein, at the head of the progressive Democratic Party ( PS), who was shocked.
“Your words are disgusting and unacceptable from someone in your position. They take us back to the 1930s, they are words that have the flavor of white supremacy,” Schlein said during a demonstration in Rome against the latest government decree on immigration and which is preparing to be approved by Parliament.
Trip to Auschwitz by Meloni
“I hope that Giorgia Meloni and the government distance themselves from these statements, made on the day that President Mattarella visits (the Nazi death camp at) Auschwitz,” he said, referring to the visit that the Italian head of state made to Poland.
historical decline in birth rates
The birth rate in Italy fell below 400,000 births per year for the first time and in 2022 it registered 393,000 newborns, the lowest figure since the unification of the country in 1871, according to the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT).
Among the main reasons for the historical decline in the birth rate in Italy is the generalized progressive aging of the country’s inhabitants, which also affects the female population, reducing the number of women of “reproductive age” (between 15 and 49 years). .
This morning, Meloni had assured that in Italy “there are more and more people to support and fewer and fewer people who work” and “for too many years there has been no investment in the birth rate.”
“The way that the government works is not only that of immigrants, but also that of the great unused reserve that is female labor. It must be compared to the European average and focus on demography, with incentives for families to bring children into the world, ”she highlighted.
Debate in the Senate
The Senate debates this week the decree that the Meloni government approved on March 9 after the sinking of a barge off the coast of Calabria (south) in which 93 immigrants died and which, among other things, will increase prison sentences for the members of the mafias that manage the irregular migratory traffic through the Mediterranean.
In addition, the Executive decreed last Tuesday the state of national immigration emergency for the next six months in an attempt, among other things, to promote deportations through an increase in centers to identify and repatriate immigrants who do not have the right to asylum. .
The entry Italian Minister: You cannot give in “to ethnic substitution” with immigrants was first published in EFE Noticias.