It appears that Croatian/Italian relations have improved as of late with multiple indicators. Recently, relations were strained as Italians revisited grievances of WWII. Economic trade has been applauded on both sides, Prodi has defended Croatian EU acceptance, and Napolitano and Mesic have publically just declared that the WWII past is behind them and prior treaties still hold.
Why the sudden change? Was this a negotiation tactic for something greater? Did the Italians see their concessions as inevitable as the post WWII treaty already addressed the compensation of the war? Did the Italians win something more?
The regional summit meeting that just occured in Czech Republic may have had unsaid additional items that we may come to find out sooner than later. In the meantime, this brings good news to Croatian EU membership supporters.
Showing posts with label WWII. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WWII. Show all posts
Monday, June 4, 2007
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Italian Emigration and Immigration
A lot can change from in 3 years...
N. Italy in 1796:
N. Italy in 1799:
That was just at the time when the US congress passed the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798. It says says anyone "opposing or resisting any law of the United States, or any act of the President of the United States" could be imprisoned for up to two years. This gave rather unreasonable powers over immigrants to the US.
From the late 1800s to the early 1900s, Italians were emigrating in droves when starvation and disease drove Italians to America. 25 million emigrated from a nation left with only 32 million.
Up until WWII, the nation still saw mass emigration in the 1930s of 300,000 per year. During WWII, Italians had been interned in the US like the Japanese and Germans.
Boundary changes have produced refugees since ancient times. And now strife in Africa, the former Yugoslavia, and the fall of the Soviet Union have caused mass refugees fleeing their country. Italy is a gateway for entrance to Western Europe. It has the largest coastline sitting in the middle of the Mediterranean.
Currently, the birth rate is smaller than the death rate (8.5% and 10.5% respectively). This sort of emigration is slowly eating at the Italian population. The only rises in population are now due to immigration of which standards have just been eased.
Berlusconi is now accusing the new immigrants of raising crime within Italy. A recent poll said 43 percent of Italians see immigrants as a threat to public security, up from 39 percent in mid-2005.
Leftists may argue that Immigration may be a vital part in sustaining growth for the nation with a still stagnant economy. This source of cheap labor could be used to maintain Italians lifestyles.
Yet, Italians are getting progressively more concerned about these immigrants. It is hard to not remember their history of being immigrants themselves, however Italy's Italians are composed of those that have never emigrated.
The immigration issue is still unresolved even after recent legislation, and now is being used as a political tool for Berlusconi to try to regain power. It will be interesting to see how it resolves, however it may take longer than anyone may anticipate.
N. Italy in 1796:
N. Italy in 1799:
That was just at the time when the US congress passed the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798. It says says anyone "opposing or resisting any law of the United States, or any act of the President of the United States" could be imprisoned for up to two years. This gave rather unreasonable powers over immigrants to the US.
From the late 1800s to the early 1900s, Italians were emigrating in droves when starvation and disease drove Italians to America. 25 million emigrated from a nation left with only 32 million.
Up until WWII, the nation still saw mass emigration in the 1930s of 300,000 per year. During WWII, Italians had been interned in the US like the Japanese and Germans.
Boundary changes have produced refugees since ancient times. And now strife in Africa, the former Yugoslavia, and the fall of the Soviet Union have caused mass refugees fleeing their country. Italy is a gateway for entrance to Western Europe. It has the largest coastline sitting in the middle of the Mediterranean.
Currently, the birth rate is smaller than the death rate (8.5% and 10.5% respectively). This sort of emigration is slowly eating at the Italian population. The only rises in population are now due to immigration of which standards have just been eased.
Berlusconi is now accusing the new immigrants of raising crime within Italy. A recent poll said 43 percent of Italians see immigrants as a threat to public security, up from 39 percent in mid-2005.
Leftists may argue that Immigration may be a vital part in sustaining growth for the nation with a still stagnant economy. This source of cheap labor could be used to maintain Italians lifestyles.
Yet, Italians are getting progressively more concerned about these immigrants. It is hard to not remember their history of being immigrants themselves, however Italy's Italians are composed of those that have never emigrated.
The immigration issue is still unresolved even after recent legislation, and now is being used as a political tool for Berlusconi to try to regain power. It will be interesting to see how it resolves, however it may take longer than anyone may anticipate.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Croatian/Italian Relations
As Croatia is making moves to joining the EU, Italy has called for the Croatians to reimburse lands and to apologize for the "ethnic cleansing" of Italians in the Istria region following WWII as Italian President Giorgio Napolitano describes.
In 1943-45, up to 10,000 were tortured or killed by Yugoslav communists who occupied the Istrian peninsula, now part of Croatia and Slovenia.
The demands have been building recently. The "exiles", or esuli, and "optants", or optanti, of the region now in living in Italy have not been able to take legal action in Croatia. A post-war contract between SFR Yugoslavia and Italy prevented the restitution of their property since a deal was made that seized this property as it was treated as war reparation. With its new EU leverage, Italy will hope to repair these "damages".
A map of the borders following WWI and WWII.
From: http://www.eux.tv/article.aspx?articleId=7160
West Balkan nations to cooperate on organised crime and migration
According to the UNODC (UN Office of Drugs and Crime), the
heroin route through Croatia and Slovenia into Italy and beyond has grown in
importance again. Ivica Kirin, interior minister for Croatia, the closest of
all the Balkan nations to EU accession, said that by working more closely to
stop cross-border crime, nations would not only be defending themselves but
the EU too.
Nearby Croatia seems to also have trouble controlling its 5835 km (3626 miles) of coastline and will be difficult to protect. This will be another issue that Italy will have to contend with with the approaching EU membership that would make international border crossing easier.
Additionally, Italy is now grappling with immigration legislation. If Croatia has difficulty controlling its coastline now, other issues such as immigration will be a factor and may mean a bigger in flux of migrants to Italy assuming Croatia reaches EU status.
In a more recent report of Croatian massacre, the Hague is indicting a number of Croatians for their attack and expulsion of ethnic Serbs from Croatia. Croatia's former and deceased President Franjo Tuđman has been reported saying on video, "blows that will make the Serbs all but disappear, in other words, those we don’t reach immediately, must capitulate in the next few days."
With newer and fresh reports of war crimes, the Italians efforts to win over land for the esuli for an event over 50 years ago will probably be easy considering the other transgressions that may give Croatia difficulty in its bid for EU membership.
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