Chronicles of ordinary racism 2011 - Cronache di ordinario razzismo

Lissone, Biassano, Seregno, Lazzate, Cogliate, and Lesmo) and the release of certificates
that declare buildings to be fit for human habitation (Montecchio Maggiore). 41
The decrees intoduced at a local level, be they regional laws or municipal rulings and
regulations, were preceeded by a series of laws on a national scale that restricted the
near equality of treatment in the field of social services between Italian and non‐EU
citizens residing regularly in our country, guaranteed by art. 41 of Consolidated Law
286/98. 42
We must remind readers of the restricted access to maternity grants for non‐EU women
who hold a regular residence permit, introduced by the government budget of 2000,
which also established the exclusion of foreign nationals of tertiary countries from the
subsidies intended for larger families 43 ; the restriction, decided by the budget of 2001 44
of access to benefits to residence permit holders only, further aggravated by Decree
112/2008 45 , better known as the anti‐crisis decree, with the establishment of a ten‐yearresidence
obligatory qualification. Again Decree 112/2008 46 reserved the chance of
obtaining the so‐called “purchase card” to destitute Italian citizens, while a ten‐yearresidence
requirement is also in place to access housing support grants. When we add
to such legislative measures the attempt, which, fortunately, fell flat, to exclude
irregular foreign citizens from accessing basic health services 47 and the introduction of a
30% cap on the presence of foreign pupils in primary and secondary school classrooms,
we begin to comprehend the institutional strategy that has emerged in recent years,
which tends to progressively whittle away at the social citizenship rights of foreign
citizens who reside in our country.
Growing inequalities
Legal protection against institutional discrimination has undergone a definite process of
bulking up in the past two years.
In the aforementioned context, whereby “selective temptation” in the field of welfare
characterises both the governing parties and the opposition, and indiscriminately
affects all citizens, appealing to the judiciary power is the most effective tool in
41 As an example, we wish only to call attention to the cases of certain administrations who adopted discriminatory
behaviour in the eyes of judges. For an in-depth analysis we refer readers to the contribution by Ilaria Traina in
chapter 2 and to the section devoted to appeals and sentences against discrimination on the Asgi website:
www.asgi.it
42 Detailed information on the legislative process in the field is provided by W. Citti, P. Bonetti (edited by), Accesso
alle prestazioni di assistenza sociale. Scheda pratica, (Access to rhe social services) available on the Asgi website:
www.asgi.it
43 Law n. 488, 23 December 1999 “Disposizioni per la formazione del bilancio annuale e pluriennale dello Stato
(Legge finanziaria 2000)”, (Arrangements for the drafting of the annual and multi-annual State budget ‘Budget Law
2000’), art. 49.
44 Law n. 388, 23 December 2000 “Disposizioni per la formazione del bilancio annuale e pluriennale dello Stato
(Legge finanziaria 2001)”, (Arrangements for the drafting of the annual and multi-annual State budget ‘Budget Law
2001’), art. 80 p. 5.
45 Decree n. 112, 25 June 2008 “Disposizioni urgenti per lo sviluppo economico, la semplificazione, la
competitività, la stabilizzazione della finanza pubblica e la perequazione Tributaria”, (Urgent measures for
economic development, simplification, competitiveness, stabilization of public finances and tax equalization), art.
20 p. 10.
46 Ibidem respectively art. 81 c. 12 e art. 11 c. 13.
47 We refer to the parliamentary debate on Law 94/2009 in the course of which an article that lifted the ban on
reporting on citizens without a residence permit was included and scrapped several times.
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