MOST interior ministers can hope for little more from their job than to avert disaster. Managing migration, crime, terrorism, policing and prisons is largely a matter of avoiding bear-traps rather than seeking glory. Jack Straw, who held the job in Britain for four years, called it “Life in the Graveyard”.
Not, though, for Marco Minniti, Italy’s interior minister. In the first half of 2017 a sharp rise in maritime migration from Libya spooked Europeans, still recovering from the refugee crisis of 2015-16. But crossings fell by 70% after Mr Minniti stepped in. Polls declared him Italy’s most popular politician. Some even spoke of him as a potential prime minister.
From his office in Rome, Mr Minniti sets out the steps of his strategy. First, last February, came a deal between Italy and Libya’s UN-backed government, which the EU quickly supported. Then, in April, Mr Minniti brokered an agreement between warring tribal leaders from Libya’s sparsely populated south, through...Continue reading
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