(ANSA) - Justice Minister Roberto Castelli raised a storm on Tuesday by referring to migrants arriving in Italy as "barbarians." In an interview with the Milan daily Il Giornale, Castelli said that the centre-left opposition had an open-door policy on immigration which would lead to the "barbarians conquering us."
According to Castelli, the centre left favours "globalisation, the undermining of the family and homosexuality...it wants to unrestrainedly open the doors to migrants. So the barbarians will conquer us." The Northern League minister said he was against "ethnic mingling."
"It seems to me that being Italian has become a fault. For the left, at least, that's how things stand."
The minister's remarks sparked indignation in the opposition ranks, with many MPs saying that he was "a cultural barbarian."
Stefano Boco, Senate Whip for the Green party, noted that Castelli's stance was especially serious because he was justice minister. "In substance, he's saying that the law is not equal for everyone," and that he was hinting that an Italian should
have different rights from those of immigrants. Senator Gianfranco Pagliarulo, of the Italian Communists party said Castelli was "the stereotype of the contemporary reactionary who rejects present-day society."
Castelli, said Pagliarulo, fails to note changing society because he is "too busy putting up defence barriers around his northern Italian villa and the plaster-cast seven dwarfs in his garden."
Senator Sandro Battisti, of the centrist Daisy party, said Castelli's remarks were "pre-electional propaganda" to justify the government's immigration policies. "Where has he been for the last five years? Wasn't he a member of the government, what was he up to?"
