Uberto Vanni d'Archirafi: 1 year after his London mandate

After two major postings in Vancouver and Buenos Aires, how would you rate your year in the UK?
Extraordinary - that is the word to best describe my London experience so far. London is a cosmopolitan city and as such offers great opportunities. There is an air of great dynamism here and our Italian community is represented at all possible levels. Besides the traditional emigration which is naturally slowly decreasing, there is also a community of Italian professionals, New Professional Emigration, consisting mostly of people working in banks and financial institutions. There is also a very long-standing, well-integrated, Italian community at the highest social levels. The role of the Consul General in this highly varied landscape of compatriots can be challenging. It must first meet the needs of all the Italians living here which in statistical terms produce a significant workload. For example, just think of the number of passports issued daily at the Consulate: every day there will be between 40 and 60 Italians whose requirements need to be met; there will be between 15 to 25 people who visit the notary office, as well as the approximately 20 people attending the visa office every day. These numbers do not take into account the daily emergencies which our offices also need to accommodate. In short, taking all the offices together, we provide services to more than 200 Italians on a day-to-day basis.

How many Italians live in the United Kingdom according to the latest estimates?
There are about 169,000, but there are many others who are not registered at the Consulate and therefore cannot be "counted". In particular, those who only stay for a short while in London and do not need the Consulate. In actual fact, formal registration at the AIRE (Anagrafe degli Italiani Residenti all’Estero) office of the Consulate is a legal duty for those Italians who live here for more than a year.

AIRE registration is a civic duty for Italian citizens, but the reality is that young people do not seem interested in fulfilling this duty. Is there a solution?
AIRE registration is a duty which these days can be fulfilled by simply sending by email a scanned copy of your identity document to the relevant AIRE email address at the Consulate: iscrizioneaire.londra@esteri.it. It is no longer necessary to visit the Consulate in person, as many believe. At a  time when young people interact with Facebook or MSN, they may feel that institutions do not meet their expectations in terms of modernity - they perceive institutions to be old-fashioned. I would like to show them that this is not the case. We have made some very important steps to ensure that the Consulate General is more effective, by making use of computer systems and the introduction of certified electronic mail (PEC). Not only does the latter system certify the authenticity of the documents sent, it also certifies their provenance. This is a huge cultural leap which reduces considerably the time spent on admin, thereby benefitting the immediate needs of the public. In this way, the transmission of documents no longer relies on the postal service but uses the PEC system, with almost immediate advantages for Italians abroad.

How is the process of administrative semplification going in London?
It is a complex undertaking, but every day we introduce something new. When I arrived in August 2009, I was required to solve a problem that had been affecting this Consulate General for years, namely the storage of a vast quantity of archived paper files, more than 200,000. The idea of electronically scanning the archives was obviously quite impossible, given the amount of work that this would have generated to the detriment of other services to the public. We decided therefore to implement the scanning process for new documents, in order to at least halt the increase of paper documents in favour of their being recorded in electronic format. We will soon be able to implement a new "integrated system for consular functions", which will allow staff to perform three different but related processes at the same time. The substantial time saved will allow us to meet more efficiently and more speedily the needs of Consulate users. Another introduction involves the honorary consular network now being able to enter the appointments’ computer system of the Consulate to make appointments on behalf of those less computer-literate users. Looking ahead, the introduction of a card payment system to pay consular fees is an objective which I hope to achieve in 2011.

How many Italian citizens are currently held in British prisons? What is the contribution of the Italian government for the social reintegration of ex-prisoners Italians living abroad?
There are about sixty inmates. We have a dedicated office that deals directly with Italian citizens in British prisons, as well as the Italian Volunteer Visitors (VVI), a non-profit organisation that visits our fellow prisoners. The British criminal justice system ensures that re-integration into the community is part of the sentence. We do assist those who, having served their sentence here, wish to return to Italy. In any case, we can and should offer a preventative service, which aims to understand and help Italians in difficult situations, so that they do not commit crimes in the first place and end up in jail.

Many young Italians come to London because they are disappointed with Italian politics, bureaucracy and the perceived lack of rewards for achievements.
The ‘escape’ of talented youth away from Italy has always existed and has always been a concern for our country. More than their disappointment in politics, I would say that it is young peoples’ own aspirations that lead them towards international arenas. Today it would be unheard of that our children and grandchildren do not know a second or third language, or even a fourth, besides Italian. The world becomes smaller all the time and globalisation is not just an economic concept. However, it is true that in Italy a young person’s professional path can be tortuous and complicated. And the bureaucracy does not help. But I am convinced that those who have the ability do break through. I am also convinced that the more difficult the path to reach the top, the more chance there is of making it to a great international career, whether as entrepreneurs, scientists or international managers. Our young people, entrepreneurs, scientists, researchers who fulfil their careers abroad, constitute an important resource for our country.  

Who are the young Italians living in London?
It is hard to say what the prototype of young Italians living in London is. It seems to me that they still reflect the very diverse social composition of their fellow countrymen; the grandchildren or great-grandchildren originating from traditional emigration who are now fully integrated into the social, political and economic English system come to mind, as do the new professional emigrants who are at the heart of the London banking and financial services. I think also of the scientists, university professors and doctors who have found professional positions in this great country; and then there are the retailers, the fashion houses, lawyers, artists: it is hard to tell where young peoples’ interests stop. Of course, many Italians have decided to enrol at English Universities, which open up an array of possibilities, despite the threatened increase in fees, not to mention of course the thousands of young people who attend English language courses here.

What is your message to them?
The message I would send them is one of trust. Many things are changing at a very fast pace. Italian institutions are aware of these changes and intend to satisfy, as far as possible, the delivery of services in line with the times. To modernize bureaucracy, to bring it closer to the needs of my fellow countrymen is a priority. It is also true that the international economic crisis has brought about devastating effects, especially in terms of budget cuts, and the consular network has not been spared. But it remains to be seen if these cuts will be offset by the introduction of new technologies. I am convinced that this period of austerity will force everyone to find innovative solutions and the Consulate General of Italy in London is at the forefront in identifying the best way forward.

In conclusion I would like to convey through the website accademiapulia.org my most sincere wishes for a Happy New Year to all Italians in the consular district of London.