Italy to begin expulsion of "dangerous" EU migrants

Nov 2, 2007, 9:47 GMT

Rome - The Italian government was expected Friday to issue the first expulsion orders for foreigners from European Union member states living in Italy who are deemed a threat to public safety.

A decree on the expulsions was approved by Prime Minister Romano Prodi's centre-left cabinet late on Wednesday in the wake of a brutal attack in Rome on a 47-year-old woman allegedly by a Romanian man.

The woman, Giovanna Reggiani, died on Thursday night after being taken off life support when doctors determined all brain activity had ceased, news reports said Friday.

Reggiani, who was found lying in a ditch naked, is believed to have been raped and beaten near a camp Tuesday night after getting off a train at the Rome's Tor di Quinto station.

Police arrested a Romanian in his mid-20 identified as Nicolae Mailat, who lives in a shack in a squatter settlement which is home to thousands of immigrants, some legal others illegal.

A provision for the expulsion of EU citizens was contained in a security package approved Tuesday for tabling in parliament, but the attack which provoked outrage in Italy prompted the cabinet to issue a decree which will bring it into immediate effect.

A series of violent crimes in Rome in recent months have been blamed on Romanians including the mugging and injuring of Oscar-winning director Giuseppe Tornatore in the summer.

'Rome was the world's safest city until Romania's entry into the EU' in January, Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni was quoted as saying by the daily La Repubblica.

Veltroni says some 75 percent of all arrests in the Italian capital over the last year involved Romanians and has repeatedly called on Bucharest to ensure that it prevents criminals to emigrate to other EU states.

Mailat had been given a three-year prison sentence in Romania for theft but had disappeared before he could be jailed, according to Italian news reports.

EU policies allow the free movement of citizens within the 27- member bloc, but countries still have the right to keep certain people out if they are considered dangerous.