ROME – Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced on April 21 that her government will tweak a controversial plan to pay lawyers €615 bonuses for successful migrant voluntary repatriations, standing firm on the concept despite constitutional challenges and a tight April 25 parliamentary deadline.
The Security Decree provision, allocating €1.2 million from 2026-2028, would compensate attorneys only upon confirmed client returns, aiming to ease reception center pressures. Yet lawyers’ and judges’ groups, including the Union of Italian Criminal Chambers, slammed it as unethical, turning defense counsel into state migration enforcers and breaching equal defense rights.
President Sergio Mattarella flagged concerns, prompting Meloni to pledge adjustments via separate legislation after “technical observations,” though time constraints force unamended passage in the Lower House this week. Post-March referendum losses left her coalition vulnerable, but she dismissed the package as a “mess,” calling it “absolute common sense.” The right-wing leader, in power since 2022, balances reformist image with hardline immigration amid EU scrutiny.