From the criminalisation of solidarity to the ‘If you flee, I’ll hire you’ initiative: why Italy needs fewer slogans and more public policies.

Italy is debating how to stop migrants, whilst businesses are struggling to find workers.
This is perhaps the most accurate snapshot of our times. On the one hand, the political debate continues to revolve around borders, repatriation and security; on the other, a growing number of companies are reporting difficulties in recruiting staff, whilst an increasingly ageing society is struggling to sustain its production and social security systems.
Something doesn’t add up.

In recent years, the public debate on immigration in Italy has taken on an increasingly radical tone. Alongside the legitimate debate on the management of migration flows, a narrative has taken hold that portrays migrants as a problem, a threat or an economic burden. In this climate, we are seeing slogans calling for ‘remigration’, campaigns against NGOs involved in sea rescues and, more generally, a growing criminalisation of solidarity.

There is a paradox running through Italian politics today. On the one hand, the idea is being fuelled that migrants are the problem to be tackled; on the other, businesses, hospitals, construction sites and personal care services are struggling to find workers. It is easier to turn immigration into a permanent political battleground than to tackle the country’s real vulnerabilities. But a ruling class is judged by its ability to solve problems, not by constantly finding a new scapegoat.
Politics has every right to discuss how to manage migration flows. It is one thing, however, to manage a phenomenon; it is quite another to turn it into the main tool for electoral mobilisation. When every problem — from security to the economic crisis — finds the migrant to be the ideal scapegoat, public debate ceases to seek solutions and simply begins to apportion blame.

The reality, however, tells a different story

According to the latest ISTAT figures, just 355,000 babies were born in Italy in 2025, the lowest figure since the unification of Italy. In the same year, there were 652,000 deaths, resulting in a natural population decline of almost 296,000 people. It was primarily the net migration balance with other countries – which stood at a positive figure of around 296,000 – that prevented a further decline in the population. As at 1 January 2026, there were 5.56 million foreign residents, accounting for 9.4 per cent of the Italian population.
The consequences of this demographic winter are already evident. Industry, construction, logistics, agriculture, tourism, healthcare and personal care are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit staff. According to Confindustria Emilia, in Emilia-Romagna alone, over 300,000 new workers will be needed by 2028 to support the growth of the production system.
Added to this figure is another, often overlooked in public debate. Foreign workers represent an increasingly significant part of the Italian labour market, and the social security contributions they pay are a vital component in maintaining the balance of the national pension system, in a country that is ageing rapidly and seeing a decline in the number of active contributors. To ignore this fact is to ignore a key aspect of the future sustainability of the Italian welfare system.

An alternative to the politics of fear

It is precisely in this context that an initiative launched in Emilia-Romagna takes on particular significance.
The ‘Se scappi, ti assumo’ (‘If you flee, I’ll hire you’) project, promoted by Confindustria Emilia Area Centro in collaboration with trade unions and the third sector, offers a solution that is as simple as it is innovative: transforming reception into integration through work.
The aim is to facilitate the integration of 250 migrants into the labour market over the course of a year, by developing language and vocational training programmes directly tailored to the needs of businesses. Not welfare, therefore, but a match between labour supply and demand.

The first participants demonstrate that the model can work: companies finding skilled staff, people achieving financial independence, and communities strengthening their cohesion.
The president of Confindustria Emilia, Sonia Bonfiglioli, put it clearly: the future of the Italian production system also depends on the ability to recognise the value of foreign workers’ contribution.
The project also sends out an important cultural message: work is not just about income. It is about dignity, independence, responsibility and a sense of belonging. It is the main means by which a person truly becomes part of the community.

Invisible Boundaries

When we talk about migration, we almost always think of geographical borders: walls, fences, pushbacks, passports. However, there are borders that are much harder to see.
These are the boundaries that separate those who can fully exercise their rights from those who live in a permanent state of precariousness. Boundaries that cut across the labour market, access to housing, healthcare, education and, ultimately, citizenship.

The sociologist Sandro Mezzadra refers to them as ‘class boundaries’: mechanisms that do not simply separate territories, but differentiate people’s social value according to their economic and legal status.
Hate speech does not merely lead to a deterioration in public discourse. It also results in less effective policies. When a person is portrayed solely as a problem, it becomes harder to envisage them as a worker, a taxpayer, a neighbour or a future citizen. Dehumanisation almost always precedes exclusion.
When a migrant is excluded from the formal labour market, it is not only they who lose out. Society as a whole loses out, forgoing skills, productivity, tax revenue and social cohesion.

Looking at reality

The ‘If you flee, I’ll hire you’ project will not, on its own, resolve the contradictions in Italian migration policy. But it does demonstrate that there is an alternative to the scapegoat mentality: viewing immigration not as an identity issue to be exploited in election campaigns, but as a matter of public policy to be managed with responsibility, pragmatism and foresight.
In a country that is ageing, losing population and struggling to find workers, perhaps the most pressing question is not how to build higher walls, but how to build a society capable of turning differences into a resource.
Because the opposite of fear is not naivety. It is the courage to face reality for what it is.

Dr Eriseld Zeneli is a European civil servant and the author of *Controvento*. From Albania to Brussels: a diary of a possible Europe. He is interested in and writes about European citizenship, civil rights, mobility and integration processes within the European Union. The views expressed are his own and do not reflect the official position of the EU institutions.