AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): The local newspaper Il Manifesto reported in an article that the far-right League Party, led by Matteo Salvini, amid declining electoral support, has once again placed the issue of opposing the construction of mosques and restricting the activities of Islamic centers on its agenda. Salvini intends to present a legal plan to "stop the creation of new Islamic centers" until an agreement is reached between Islamic institutions and the Italian government.
Salvini's New Plan for Mosques
According to this report, the legal plan proposed by the League Party has been prepared and Salvini is set to formally present it in the near future; the section related to mosques in this plan includes creating a list of religious institutions that do not have a formal agreement with the Italian government and drafting a "charter of values" for these institutions; also, the public disclosure of financial statements of religious organizations and the official registration of religious clerics have been envisioned in this plan.
The League Party has announced that the purpose of requiring the disclosure of financial statements is concern about the financial resources of some Islamic institutions and the possibility of their connection to groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood; a claim raised in the text of the plan and the party's positions. This plan also increases the powers of local authorities, prefectures, and Italy's Ministry of Interior to monitor places of worship and the activities conducted there.
Imprisonment Penalties and New Restrictions
This report also considered the most important part of this plan to be the creation of a new criminal offense and the imposition of a penalty of up to five years in prison for individuals who, according to the plan's text, promote "teachings or principles contrary to the legal system" or fuel hate speech and extremist approaches.
Italian circles believe that the definition provided in this section is vague and broad and could affect freedom of worship.
According to this report, the prohibition of full face coverings and the tightening of regulations related to residence permits are also among other parts of the proposed package by the League Party. This plan, overall, according to the author, has been drafted with the aim of increasing control over religious places and activities conducted there and granting more powers to security and administrative authorities.
League's Competition with the Far-Right Party
The report further described the League Party's declared goal as combating "extremist Islamism," but stated that in practice, the party's position has found a broader scope and is not limited to opposing extremist currents. The report, in this context, referred to the positions of Roberto Vannacci, a member of the European Parliament and a figure of the far-right "Futuro Nazionale" movement, who defends "Christian traditions" as the roots of Italian and European identity.
The author also referred to the remarks of Gianangelo Boff, a representative of the Futuro Nazionale party, who, in response to the issue of building a mosque in Venice, said: "Opening a mosque in Venice, the day we see the construction of a Christian cathedral in the center of Riyadh." The author considered these positions as part of the escalating political atmosphere surrounding the issue of mosques and Islam in Italy.
Polling and Concerns About Declining Support for the League
According to this report, the latest poll by the "BiDiMedia" institute placed the Futuro Nazionale party with eight percent support in fourth place among Italian parties and reported that this party has surpassed Forza Italia. In contrast, support for the League Party in this poll reached 4.8 percent. The author believes that this same trend has caused the League to adopt stricter positions on Islam and immigration to compete with the Vannacci movement.
The report concluded by analyzing that given the approaching end of the legislative term, the proposed plan on mosques has little chance of being approved and implemented, and rather than being a legislative action with a practical perspective, it has an electoral function. The report described this plan as an attempt by the League Party to compete with the Vannacci movement in the area of immigration and opposition to Islam, and wrote that competition among Italy's right-wing parties over this issue could affect the country's political atmosphere.
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