A new decision by magistrates on immigration and a new government attack on the judiciary come amid an increasingly heated referendum campaign and on the day President Sergio Mattarella called for "mutual respect" between institutions. After a Rome court judge recently ordered the Interior Ministry to pay €700 in compensation to an Algerian migrant transferred to a CPR in Albania, yesterday the bill was even higher . The Palermo court ordered the Ministries of the Interior, Transport, and Economy, and the Prefecture of Agrigento, to reimburse the German NGO Sea Watch for the expenses documented by the organization, amounting to €76,000 —plus €14,000 in court costs—for financial damages suffered by the Sea Watch 3 vessel following its administrative detention in Lampedusa from July 12 to December 19, 2019. The episode is that of the then commander of the German ship Carola Rackete who, on 29 June of that year, forced the naval blockade of Lampedusa , also ramming a Guardia di Finanza patrol boat during the maneuvers, to disembark on the island 42 migrants, rescued in the Libyan SAR zone.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni isn't taking it well , posting a video on social media for the second night in a row to comment on a decision "that literally leaves one speechless." The "shameful" news from the other day (the Algerian case, ed.) "seems trivial compared to what happened today. But is the magistrates' job," she attacks, immediately followed by a flurry of statements from the Brothers of Italy party, "to enforce the law or to reward those who boast of breaking the law? The other question I ask myself," she adds, "is what message are they trying to convey with this long series of objectively absurd decisions? That the government is not allowed to try to combat mass illegal immigration, that whatever law is passed and whatever proceedings are conducted, a politicized segment of the judiciary is ready to get in the way?" But, he assures, "we are particularly stubborn and will continue to do our best to respect the word we gave to Italians and the laws of the Italian state. We will do everything necessary to defend, in particular, our borders and the safety of our citizens."