Italian minister sparks row with 'ethnic replacement' warning

By Giada Zampano

ROME (AA) – Italy's Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida sparked a heated controversy on Tuesday by warning against the "ethnic replacement" of Italians with immigrants, as the country's birth rate reaches new lows.

"We cannot surrender to the idea of ethnic replacement: Italians have fewer children, so let's replace them with someone else. That's not the road to go down," the minister said during a trade union congress in Rome.

Lollobrigida, who is the brother-in-law and one of the closest allies of right-wing Premier Giorgia Meloni, added that "a welfare system must be built to allow anyone to work and have a family."

Meloni herself has publicly used the term "ethnic replacement" in the past, but not since becoming Italy's first female prime minister last October.

On Wednesday, Lollobrigida responded to critics saying he did not change his mind, but admitted he "used the wrong words, for ignorance and not for racism."

Lollobrigida's comments were widely criticized by Italy's left-wing opposition, with the Democratic Party leader Elly Schlein slamming them as "disgusting" and "unacceptable." The opposition leader said that the minister's words are reminiscent of "white supremacism" and "take us back to the 1930s.”

On Tuesday, Meloni, speaking at the Design Week in Milan, pledged the government will act to boost Italy's birth rate by offering incentives to have children, including better child care facilities and employment opportunities for women.

Meloni and Lollobrigida's comments on the issue of Italy's low birth rates came a day after the EU statistical agency Eurostat said the Italian population is projected to shrink by more than 8.8 million by 2100.

Meloni's Brothers of Italy party won elections last year on promises to boost the flagging birth rate and slash migrants arrivals in Italy, one of the main destinations for people trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach European shores.

About 33,000 migrants have arrived so far this year, compared to 8,400 in the same period last year – a jump that pushed Meloni's far-right government to call a six-month state of emergency last week.