In Italy and Hungary, is the far-right using undocumented workers alongside its anti-immigration discourse? What about it? The Franceinfo “True or False” cell will enlighten you.
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Since Monday September 11, nearly 11,000 migrants have landed on the island of Lampedusa, in Italy. Jordan Bardella, the president of the National Rally, asks Emmanuel Macron not to welcome a single migrant. The Minister of Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, sought to confront the leaders of the far-right with their contradictions: “You know that Ms. Meloni is the first to talk about regularizing undocumented immigrants. Mr. Orban, who is the great defender of Ms. Le Pen, is the first to regularize undocumented immigrants.” Is it true ?
Giorgia Meloni and Viktor Orban may not be the first to do it, but it is true that they use it too. Both countries, whether Italy or Hungary, are increasingly granting residence permits to allow foreigners to come and work in their country. A sort of chosen immigration, despite their anti-immigration speech.
Immigration chosen from a restricted list of countries
In 2023, Rome planned to grant nearly 83,000 work permits to foreigners. This was 13,000 more than last year. But this figure was increased by Giorgia Meloni herself: the President of the Italian Council signed a new decree in July to increase to almost 123,000 work permits for foreigners. The decrees set the types of professions in tension – the hotel industry, the food industry, construction – and the nationalities of the workers – Algerians, Japanese, Senegalese and Guatemalans.
In Hungary, it’s somewhat the same process, with more restricted selective immigration, mainly from Asia and South America. The use of foreign workers became normalized after the arrival of Covid three years ago; Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban signed a decree in 2021 that allows foreigners to obtain a work visa in just a few weeks. Result: the number of non-European foreign workers has increased by 14% in one year and the rules will be further relaxed next November. Those whom Hungarians call “guest workers” will be able to obtain a work permit even more easily, without official notice from the authorities.