Management of the Mineo CARA (hosting centre for asylum seekers) Mayor Marletta’s proposal
While some
mayors in the Caltagirone area are holding meetings ever higher up the
political ranks in order to run the Mineo Cara (Hosting Centre for Asylum
Seekers) independently, the mayor of Palagonia, Valerio Marletta strongly reiterates
that he wishes to take a stand against this politics which deviates huge sums
of public money into a structure that after the departure of the Americans would
never have been able to find a better way to make money.
“Since
the village opened, which is also called the village of ‘solidarity’,”
said Marletta, “we have been speaking out against the squalid operations
of the former Minister, Maroni, to experiment the new segregationist politics,
even on asylum seekers, in a place that is more than 10kms from the nearest
inhabited centre. Tens of millions of euro have been squandered and have gone
to fill the pockets of the usual local businessmen and all at the expense of
the migrants who are still having to wait for their permits of stay, given the
numerous and often fabricated rejections which are issued, which result in huge
waiting times.”
“But
we have come to a proposal,” continued Marletta, “for a solution regarding
the Mineo Cara, that in our opinion, would benefit everyone concerned.”
“Let’s
take the annual cost of the rent paid for the Village of Oranges, add the
Centre’s running and maintenance costs along with the costs which are entailed
for the forces of order; from that figure we can take off 10% which will be
considered savings and the remaining 90% can be divided up between 60-70 SPRAR
(Protection System for Asylum Seekers and Refugees) projects. The management of
the projects will be decided through public selection. In this way,
mathematically, we will obtain a real form of Reception for the guests, which
will include their insertion into the area, with the real possibility of success.
Furthermore, there will be savings for the nation. This could be a real
solution to the “emergency” which is not a real emergency and one,
which for once, takes everybody into consideration.”
“I
want to remind you,” continued the mayor of Palagonia, “that in the Province of Catania alone, with its 58 local
councils, it is possible to realise additional SPRAR projects each with a
maximum of twenty guests. Where this has been done already, the projects have
already shown that it is truly possible to deal with this phenomenon, and
obtain optimum results.
I feel that
this is the right moment, while some mayors are getting worked up about
obtaining the management of the Cara, to launch a proposal which is suggesting
the opposite: to build a network of SPRAR projects in the Caltagirone area.
Palagonia would be delighted to put itself forward as the coordination centre
for the project.”
