Renzi unveils anti-graft code

(ANSA) - Rome, April 15 - The government's new public-tender code will fight graft and free up public works in Italy, Premier Matteo Renzi said Friday.
    The new code unveiled today "closes off the path to corruption," he told a press conference. "This government is working with determination and dedication," he said.
    "The fight against corruption is a priority - we are absolutely in the front lines," he said. The new anti-graft code "represents another step forward... on the way to freeing up (public) works in Italy," he said.
    It will include the "principle of 'public debate' and a definite timeframe - if we want to do a major work we will involve the population, but within pre-determined time limits," he said. The new code aiming to eliminate graft after a long string of public-tender scandals around the country in recent years will also simplify the rules, Renzi said.
    "You fight corruption by drafting new simpler rules, not more complicated ones," the premier explained.
    Also on Friday, Renzi said there is no migrant invasion underway in Italy and that the government has "clear ideas" on how to deal with the ongoing asylum seeker crisis. "The EU is coming up with a strategy (ranging) from aid to African countries to blocking the journeys of death," Renzi said. "I don't want to minimise, but I do want to send a reliable message - the number of arrivals is just slightly higher than last year".
    Further, Italy won't look the other way if Austria shuts down its side of the border at the Brenner Pass to keep asylum seekers out.
    "To our Austrian friends I say the Brenner is not just a tunnel linking our countries (but) a workplace for many companies," he said. "We will not turn the other way if someone breaks the rules...but I trust they won't be".
    He also thanked Pope Francis ahead of his visit to the Greek island of Lesbos in support of refugees on Saturday. "Pope Francis' trip is a...very simple but very strong gesture," he said. "The pope has repeatedly called the EU to a different role". The pope's visit to the Greek island where many refugees wash up follows one he made to the Italian island of Lampedusa in July 2013 - three months after becoming pontiff - in which he voiced his concerns over the migrant and refugee emergency and the many lives being lost at sea. Lesbos and Lampedusa are the first landfall for people taking to the Mediterranean - often in unseaworthy boats run by unscrupulous traffickers - in an effort to flee war zones in Africa and the Middle East.
    Human rights organizations have repeatedly called on the EU to set up humanitarian corridors for asylum seekers to cross into Europe in a safe and legal way.