"Only Berlusconi can decide on regularisation"

Scajola: It would be right to regularise other categories of workers

The decision on whether or not to regularise other immigrants working in Italy legally can only be made by the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Economy Minister Claudio Scajola has said.

Mr. Scajola recently proposed that in addition to domestic workers, there are other categories of workers who should be regularised to meet the shortage of workers in specific social and production sectors

But Home Affairs Minister Roberto Maroni claimed that the proposal to regularise other categories of workers had been rejected.

Reacting to Mr. Maroni’s claim, Mr. Scajola said that the proposal to regularise other immigrants working in the country illegally was based pragmatic not ideological reasoning.

The point is, what should be done with foreigners already in Italy illegally, but with jobs, Mr. Scajola said. It would be right to come up with a solution similar to the one for regularising domestic workers, he said, adding that such a solution would be advantageous to the Italian economy.