(ANSA) - Rome, June 19 - Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Tuesday that he was not backing down on his controversial proposal to have a census of the people of Roma ethnicity in Italy. "'Census' of Roma and control of the public money spent (on them)," Salvini, who is also deputy premier and League leader, said on Facebook.
"If the left proposes it, then it is all right, but if I propose it, then it is RACISM.
"I'm not giving up, I'm going straight on! The Italians and their security come first". The 21 Luglio association that defends the rights of the nation's Roma and Sinti communities said Salvini's plan was illegal. Noemi Di Segni, the president of Italy's union of Jewish communities, said the proposal recalled the Fascist racial laws.
The opposition centre-left Democratic Party (PD) said the plan was "abhorrent".
With regard to this issue, European Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici called on Salvini to "respect the rule of law".
Moscovici also said Tuesday that he considered Salvini's tough stance on migrants to be mistaken while stressing that Italy should not be left to cope with the problem on its own. "Salvini's message is not the right one," Moscovici said in Paris, after the interior minister refused to let the Aquarius migrant-rescue ship have access to Italian ports earlier this month.
"Preferring to retreat on yourself than opening up to the world amounts to turning your back on the tradition of hospitality that is written in the values of our history. "But the message behind Salvini's gesture should be listened to.
"The member States cannot leave Italy on its own with the migratory crisis".