One of Mr Bossi's most senior lieutenants, Roberto Maroni, the interior minister, was there.
Mr Maroni had demanded that Mr Berlusconi step back as the coalition's candidate for prime minister.
They include Roberto Maroni, Italy's interior minister, who is a senior figure in the anti-immigrant Northern League.
From the EU Mr Maroni sought another deal to allow him to dispatch migrants, but in the opposite direction.
Mr Maroni insisted that he would continue with the destruction of unauthorised gypsy encampments and that the expulsion of Roma would still be possible.
Roberto Maroni said it was explicitly ruled out by an electoral pact between his Northern League party and Mr Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL).
Now Mr Maroni has decreed that the migrants should be held at a new identification and expulsion centre on Lampedusa itself until they are repatriated.
Kelly (aged 14) comes from Brazil, lives in Suriname and hitches a ride by canoe across the Maroni River each morning to school in Maripasoula, French Guiana.
In December the interior minister, Roberto Maroni, opted for deterrence.
But on September 19th the head of a delegation from the European Parliament said that he had secured from Mr Maroni an undertaking it would not be invoked for EU citizens.
For another problem with Mr Maroni's scheme is that many immigrants cannot be sent home, either because their nationality is untraceable or because Italy does not have a repatriation deal with their countries.
Mr Maroni, head of the Northern League and former interior minister, would be joint candidate for the governorship of the region of Lombardy which holds elections on the same day as the national polls.
Bad news being best bundled, Mr Maroni used his committee appearance to announce a second climb-down: the ending of a provision for automatic expulsion for EU citizens who cannot show that they have adequate means of subsistence.
Roberto Maroni, leader of the Northern League, has said the possibility of Berlusconi becoming prime minister is explicitly ruled out by the electoral pact between the parties, but the former premier has repeatedly said he plays to win, and observers believe he is unlikely to pass up the chance to lead the country again if the opportunity presents itself.
应用推荐