According to what was announced by the Nova agency, the Italian Parliament approved on January 17 a greater military presence in Libya and the sending of a contingent of 470 soldiers to Niger to help combat migratory phenomena and the illegal smuggling of migrants to Italian coasts and Europe. This is what the newspaper "New York Times" reports. The Parliament therefore met for the last time before the elections on 4 March. Silvio Berlusconi's party, Forza Italia, which is in the opposition, voted in favor of the resolutions, while the 5 Star Movement opposes them because the missions will not leave anyone who wins the elections free to set their own foreign policy priorities.
In this year's international missions, 31 in 21 countries, Italy will spend 1,5 billion euros, until September, when it will be necessary to vote on the possible allocation of additional funds. The focus on Africa is linked to the country's need to stop migratory flows arriving on its shores. Over 600.000 migrants from Africa have arrived in the past four years.
The mission in Niger, on the other hand, joins those of France and the United States to help President Mahamadou Issoufou exercise greater control over its territory and borders. For the Italian Prime Minister Gentiloni, the mission "will guarantee stability in the area as well as fight the illegal trafficking of migrants". The Italian military in Libya therefore rose to 400, from the previous 370. As a member of the Atlantic Alliance (NATO), Italy will send a contingent of 60 men to Tunisia to control borders and fight terrorism. The contingent in Afghanistan will instead be halved to about 750 soldiers and, finally, about 200 soldiers will return from the mission in Iraq.