By Phil Stewart
ROME (Reuters) - A resurgent trash crisis in Naples andsquabbling over immigration pose challenges to newly electedPrime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as he finalises a sweepingsecurity and economic reform package.
Berlusconi is moving his cabinet to the troubled port cityof Naples on Wednesday to agree on the reforms, the first majorinitiative of his conservative government since it came topower last month.
The prime minister promised during the election campaign hewould base his government in the southern city instead of thecapital Rome to resolve the rubbish crisis.
The package, according to media reports, may includecalling in the army to help clear away Naples' garbage andreimposing border checks to stem illegal immigration, despiteItaly's membership in the European Union passport-free SchengenZone.
Berlusconi's attorney, Niccolo Ghedini, complained onSunday that a bid to make illegal immigration a custodialoffence was foiled when a party inside Berlusconi's coalition,the National Alliance, objected.
Ghedini said the cited concerns were that Italy would beseen as "excessively severe in European circles". He said hethought the measure would have been a good deterrent.
"We are very different than other countries ... We're thedoor to the Mediterranean and we need to defend ourselves."
Europe's leading human rights watchdog and Spain bothexpressed concern last week over episodes of xenophobia andviolence against immigrants in Italy.
Italian police were forced to evacuate illegal Roma campsin Naples after local people, angry at a suspectedbaby-snatching incident involving a 17-year-old Roma girl, setfire to Roma shacks repeatedly during the night. Nobody wasinjured.
Il Giornale newspaper, owned by Berlusconi's brother, citeda survey showing most Italians wanted to expel unemployed Roma,known in Italy as "nomads". Some 66.5 percent also said theyfavoured DNA tests and fingerprinting of all Roma for a census.
HERE COMES THE ARMY?
Naples, a symbol to many Italians of the country'sinability to tackle corruption, organised crime andunemployment, again made headlines on Sunday for its inabilityto clear rubbish. Residents set putrid piles of garbage ablaze,some of them blocking streets.
The trash problem -- the result of Naples' dumps being full-- has been blamed on years of weak governance and organisedcrime.
Berlusconi was expected, according to one media report, toturn to the army to help restore order in Naples and couldcreate secret trash dumps, presumably so citizens won't protestwhen refuse goes to their neighbourhoods.
The trash, and illegal tips of household and hazardouswaste run by the local mafia known as the Camorra, are blamedfor illnesses in local children and carcinogenic dioxins thatwere found in buffalo-milk mozzarella cheese earlier this year.
Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa said he also favouredcalling in the army to join anti-illegal immigrant policepatrols. He told Il Giornale their experience in foreignpeacekeeping missions had prepared them.
"Today the army is professional and has concretepreparation. In Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon policing wascarried out in much more difficult situations," La Russa said.
Also on Wednesday, Berlusconi's cabinet is expected toapprove tax cuts that were at the heart of his campaign,including eliminating the tax on a primary residence.
(Additional reporting by Valentina Consiglio; Editing byMatthew Jones)
