Irregular migrant arrivals in Italy have dropped by about 50 percent in January this year, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said on January 25 at a rally organized by the right-wing League party in the Abruzzo region.

"This year, even if only one month has passed, we have recorded half the arrivals compared to last year, when they had nevertheless gone down by 60 percent compared to the critical period of the two previous years," Piantedosi told the event 'Ideas in movement', organized by the League party in the Abruzzo towns of Roccaraso and Rivisondoli on January 23-25.

"Numbers, even if they appear dry, speak clearly and create a path to evaluate what has been done. We are implementing very strong initiatives to have a further and meaningful reduction of landings," the minister added.

Piantedosi said he often discusses the matter with Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini, leader of the League party, "who has a different ministerial dossier but is an important political leader of reference."

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'Foreign juvenile crime up 10 percent -- we will deal with it'

"Juvenile crime is a huge problem in Italy," stated Piantedosi, adding that it has been growing among minors and that, in particular, offences "committed by foreign minors have increased by 10 percent."

He confirmed the government's intention of approving a decree shortly and, probably, a bill set to include "about 60 measures" of which "a significant part deals with the aspect of juvenile crime."

Speaking about the fate of Italian-run centres in Albania, including a repatriation facility (CPR), the interior minister recalled that Italian security forces currently deployed in Albania "are guarding our CPR where irregular migrants with a criminal record, including grave" offences, "are detained to be progressively repatriated."

"Perhaps some would prefer for these individuals -- who have no right to remain among us -- to be set free again on Italian territory, possibly at our expense, to then complain about the security problems that these people would once again create."

Piantedosi stressed that the "centre is operational. The contingent present is based on the level of presences at the CPR. The officers are not on holiday. The cost of room and board for the officers --some 80 euros a day -- is cheaper than for any other similar situation in Italy. Someone would perhaps prefer we housed them in shacks."

"Thus controversies are entirely instrumental. The costs of repatriation are significantly lower than the costs sustained to provide for these irregular migrants in Italy. Spending money for irregular migrants instead of for our policemen was always the preference of those who criticize us today, when they were in government," noted Piantedosi, referring to criticism from centre-left opposition members who have said the Albanian scheme is too expensive and will not make a big dent in migrant numbers.

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'Convergence of views with Germany on immigration'

Before attending the League's rally in Abruzzo, Piantedosi held a bilateral meeting with his German counterpart Alexander Dobrindt as part of the Italy-Germany intergovernmental summit held in Rome on January 23.

"Our cooperation based on consolidated reciprocal trust has intensified, both thanks to the total convergence of views on the themes of migration as well as on security", he declared.

"In particular, the new action plan adopted today (which updates the previous one forged in Berlin in 2023) will allow us to lay the foundations for an even more structured cooperation between our police forces. We have also pledged to define a new framework agreement on police cooperation to further intensify the partnership in the fight against organized and financial crime", he continued.

The two ministers, moreover, shared "the importance of implementing the European strategy regarding third countries of origin and transit of migrants, and the new perspective, provided for by European regulations, of managing repatriation procedures in a third country", he concluded.

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