Italy’s Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi

The other €1 billion, however, would be spent on cultural programs.

“We need an ever-broader coalition to destroy IS and its atrocious project”, Renzi said in Paris after a meeting with Hollande at the Elsyee palace.

To emphasize his point, the Prime Minister said that the government would be matching the outlays for increased security with a similar uptick in spending on culture, to show the Islamists that Italy is still Italy.

French President François Hollande met Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on November 26, 2015. They added that the encounter took place in an “excellent atmosphere” and that Biden expressed “great praise” of Renzi and Italy’s commitment to the global coalition against terror and ISIS.

Mr Renzi’s plan – which has yet to be approved by parliament – could face resistance from Italian business, since it is funded by delaying until 2017 a planned corporate tax cut that many saw as essential to reinforcing the country’s sluggish economic recovery.

According to Ansamed, during the meeting with Hollande, Renzi stressed again the need of implementing “a cultural response” alongside military intervention.

This includes more money for disenfranchised neighbourhoods on the outskirts of big cities, where there are often clashes between Italians and immigrants, but also a €500 bonus for every 18-year old to spend at theatres, concerts and museums.

As part of the increased security measures, Italian police raided the Baobab migrant center in Rome on Tuesday where 23 undocumented immigrants from North Africa, Eritrea, and Ethiophia were detained, according to La Stampa.

Renzi’s plans come amid fears of terror attacks during Pope Francis’ Jubilee Year of Mercy, which is due to begin Dec 8., when millions of pilgrims are expected to descend on Rome The self-styled Islamic State signaled to the Vatican in March that it intends to attack.