Dignity, cooperation, opportunity: these keywords can explain the core of the SUPREME Italia project. At the European Committee of the Regions, during the closing conference of the second funding phase of the programme, many speakers highlighted how it turned out to be a success in the last four years.
SUPREME is promoted by the five Southern Italy regions of Sicily, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania and has involved the cooperation of many other entities, such as the Italian Government, the European Union and Italian NGOs. It represents a real multi-level governance approach, with a bottom-up planning.
The aim of SUPREME was well explained by Stefania Congia, director of the DG for Immigration and Integration Policies at the Italian Ministry of Labour. First of all, the project aims to give decent work to all the immigrants that came to Italy. Especially in the Southern regions of the Country, people from non-EU States work in inhuman conditions, as it happens. The agricultural caporalato – an illegal practice of labour exploitation – is one of the most relevant problems and a huge obstacle to those migrants who want to live and work in a legal way.
In 2019, a three year plan was established that has recently been renewed for another three years. By focusing on individual pathways and active labour market policies, SUPREME is giving immigrants not only a decent work, but also a decent life, meaning the programme successfully provided – and keeps providing – migrants houses, health care and even vehicles.
From an emergency response to a regular system
When it comes to project design and implementation, the Assessor for Security of the Campania region, Mario Morcone, stressed how deeply the partnership among the Italian regions has changed and how they managed to create a cooperative model of administration. First launched with EU funding as an emergency response, SUPREME has by now been established as a regular system.
Part of the project's budget was first provided by the European Union's Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF). Through it, the EU Commission aims to distribute 9.88 billion euros to the regions and cities, in order to better manage migration, expand national capacities and distribute responsibility among the member states. More than 13% of the amount goes to Italy, making the country the third-largest recipient of AMIF funding.
Beate Gmindner, Senior Migration Management Official at the EU Commission, considers SUPREME to be exemplary. The situation that the Southern regions of Italy are facing is not only a challenge for Italy alone, but for Europe as a whole, she says. “I do hope that the project and its lessons learned are going to also be exported to other European countries”.
Assessor Morcone agrees: “It can be a truly significant blueprint to also be done in other countries. I'm thinking of France, but also Germany, which have cultures and a legal history very close to ours”.
Written by Niklas Hlawitschka & Giulia Girardelloe
