On 16 May 2012, the "technical" government's interior minister, Anna Maria Cancellieri, announced that thousands of six-month temporary residence permits for humanitarian reasons issued mostly to Tunisians in response to the influx into Italy during the so-called "Arab Spring" would be renewed for a second time, for a further six months. A prime ministerial decree was adopted for this purpose the day before. The permits were originally granted through a prime ministerial decree issued on 5 April 2011 within the framework of a "state of emergency" concerning the influx of migrants from north Africa that was declared on 12 February 2011 until the end of the year, and renewed on 6 October 2011 to last until the end of 2012.
