"On Refugees, Italy is no Ellis Island"

To the Editor

Bruxelles, 4 November 1998

"Italy is swamped by New Waves of Boat People" (news article, Nov 1) refers to Italy as a sort of Ellis Island for refugees from Eastern Europe. I fear the comparison does not stand.

Now, as then, the shock of the invasion of large numbers of people is brutal, and integrating them into society is difficult. But a hundred years ago across the Atlantic, the miracle worked. It is not working in Europe Today.

Italy and Europe of the next century will be multicultural and multi-ethnic. Yet Italian laws and regulations, changing and chaotic; our arrival centres, coast guard and border police, and our doubts and contradictinos are light-years away from the powerful beacon that the torch of Lady Liberty represents.

Gianfranco Dell'Alba

Member of the European Parliament

(Lista Pannella, Italy)