As widely predicted on the eve, the click day for the entry of foreign workers into Italy was overbooked just an hour after its opening.
At 10, in fact, the applications received by the Viminale were already 238,000, almost triple the number of quotas envisaged by last year's flow decree, i.e. 82,705, while at 19, the figure exceeded 240,000.
"Certainly - these are the words of the Minister of Labour, Marina Elvira Calderone - the government is attentive to the issue and we are looking at a more far-reaching program to understand if we will have to intervene again".
To ask for a further measure to allow new entry quotas is Coldiretti which estimates the missing manpower in the countryside in view of spring at 100,000 workers.
On the other hand, the trade associations of cleaners and caregivers are critical, denouncing the exclusion from the provision.
The entry quotas envisaged by the flows decree, in fact, concern agricultural workers in particular, but also those in road haulage, construction, the tourism-hotel sector, mechanics, telecommunications and shipbuilding.
All the requests received on the portal of the Ministry of the Interior were in any case uploaded to the telematic platform.
From now on, therefore, the preliminary phase will start with the examination of the applications by the Sportello Unico for Immigration.
At the end of the checks, we will proceed with the revocation or with the authorization that will allow the workers to obtain the entry visa.
"Today was the click day and therefore the booking of flows. Now we have to look at a more complex issue, that of the intersection between job demand and supply, obviously not linked only to the issue of migration, and therefore to how to manage the work of immigrants, but in general how to integrate into work all those who are currently outside the market", said Minister Calderone, who also opens up the possibility of "other forms of entry to work".
"The recently approved decree - he underlines - provides for a three-year program, and also a path linked to training in the countries of origin. Therefore, an entry of workers who already have initial training which will then be consolidated in company contexts".
The political controversy with the Democratic Party is also inevitable, accusing the Meloni government of navigating on sight "not having absolute knowledge of reality".
"An additional decree should be adopted immediately that significantly expands the authorizations for seasonal entrances - says Stefano Vaccari, Pd group leader in the Agriculture Committee of the Chamber -. Drop the mask, enough propaganda and more concrete facts".
The controversy is also fueled by Assindatcolf, the union of domestic employers.
"No click day today for domestic work employer families, who have been unjustly excluded due to a lack of planning that has been going on for over 12 years and which is making figures such as domestic cleaners and carers untraceable on the labor market", the president accused Andrea Zini -.
We ask the government and Minister Calderone to widen the scope of the flows decree, also providing quotas for the domestic sector.
To meet the needs of families, 23,000 new non-EU workers would be needed a year, 68,000 in the three-year period 2023-2025". For Coldiretti, however, the roll call - in view of spring - is missing 100,000 workers.
