Italy Slashes Asylum Seeker Benefit Payments

Populist Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has ordered that benefits for asylum seekers be substantially reduced, saying the money saved will be given to police working overtime shifts instead.

The new policy will greatly reduce the amount of money asylum seekers receive but will also limit access to integration courses for those who have been approved for a residency permit, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports.

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Currently, migrants receive between 35 to 45 euros per day from Italian taxpayers but Salvini’s new policy will see that amount reduced to around 20 euros per day, with migrants costing taxpayers a total of three billion euros per year.

Salvini also met Rome’s Five Star Movement (M5S) Mayor Virginia Raggi on Wednesday to discuss the issue of illegal Roma squatter camps in the Italian capital pledging to close the camps and return the public space back to the citizens of the city.

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The Interior Minister also mentioned his plans for the money saved by reducing spending for asylum seekers saying: “With the money taken from the centres for migrants I will pay overtime to the police.”

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