The Italian government called a state of emergency with a wave of refugees in 2002 and it was renewed annually - even under the centre-left government of Romano Prodi. As the intake centres in February 2008 seemed sufficient, the Prodi government limited the emergency measures to the three southern regions of Calabria, Sicily and Puglia. The Berlusconi government at the behest of the Interior Ministry has now widened the powers to the entire country.

Warning of the introduction of a "police state," the country's opposition attacked the measures sharply, calling them abhorrent. "Italy does not need inhuman and extraordinary measures," said parliamentarian Rocco Buttiglione, the Turin-based newspaper La Stampa reported on Saturday.

In response, Maroni criticised what he claimed was the opposition intention to make the state of emergency seem like an entirely new development, and called the opposition position "the worst Italian politics."

The Interior Minister is to face Parliam