Italy minister defends country in racism row

An Italian minister yesterday said Italy was the "most welcoming country in Europe", days after violent attacks forced more than 1,000 African farm workers to flee a town in the south of his country.

Andrea Ronchi, the European affairs minister, said racism did not exist in Italy and accused the rest of Europe of leaving Italy to face the problem of clandestine immigration alone.

"In Italy, there is no racism. It does not exist. It is an accusation made by people who do not know Italy," he said on the sidelines of an informal meeting of European affairs ministers in La Granja, Spain.

"We will give them (those making the accusation) a free tour, at our expense, to show them what there is in Italy: solidarity and welcome. But it is true there is a violent phenomenon - illegal immigration," he told journalists.

"These accusations are the fruit of a left-wing culture no longer in step with citizens," he said. Italy is the most welcoming country in Europe, and anyone accusing us of racism is stupid." Two nights of clashes in the southern town of Rosarno last week between Italians and immigrants prompted more than 1,000 immigrants to leave the area, most on special buses arranged by the Italian authorities.

The UN, the Egyptian government and humanitarian groups all expressed concern over the treatment of immigrants in Italy's impoverished south.

Yesterday, however, Mr Ronchi accused Europe of abandoning Italy to deal with immigration on its own.

"Italy has been alone on the economic and political front, facing the urgent problem of illegal immigration," he said.

"I criticise Europe for wasting time in creating a refugees' rights agency," he said.

Mr Ronchi said the EU's Lisbon Treaty was the last chance to create a European entity that was more concrete, less bureaucratic and more political, as the continent currently risked being sidelined.

Meanwhile Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini yesterday defended his country's measures in tackling illegal immigration following last week's attacks on African farm workers in Italy's impoverished south.

"These were events caused by illegality committed by Italian entrepreneurs employing illegal migrants," he said in response to a question after giving a lecture at Addis Ababa Univesity.

"On the other side of the coin, they (migrants) burnt cars and houses - two illegalities we want to punish," added Frattini, who is on a week-long African tour that will also take him to Kenya, Uganda, Egypt and Tunisia.