BBCItaly’s first migrant processing center in Albania opened this week
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s five-year deal to send migrants rescued at sea to camps in Albania for processing has been dealt a serious blow by a court just days after the first migrants arrived. .
A special immigration court in Rome ruled that the 12 migrants sent to the camp in Gader, not far from northern Albania’s Adriatic coast, will be returned to Italy because they are from countries considered unsafe for return. It was decided that it should be done.
Meloni’s deal with Albania has attracted widespread attention from Western allies, and Italy’s government has said it will appeal the ruling.
“It is up to the government, not the judiciary, to decide which countries are safe,” he told reporters.
She convened a cabinet meeting next Monday.
The EU says irregular migration via the central Mediterranean route has fallen by 64% this year, but governments across Europe are under pressure to curb migration numbers.
The deal between Italy and Albania aims to process and repatriate around 3,000 illegal migrants per month rescued from the Mediterranean Sea in two camps.
But the estimated cost of €800m (£666m) has drawn criticism from opposition leaders, including Democrat Ellie Schlein, who say the money could have been earmarked for medical costs.
The agreement does not include women or children, and the first group of men were sent to Albania aboard an Italian navy ship on Wednesday, three days after joining as part of a group of 85 people picked up at sea. arrived at.
There were 10 Bangladeshis and six Egyptians on board the Libra, but the number was quickly reduced from 16 to 12 after a medical check determined two were children and two were vulnerable. .
Reuters
The first irregular migrants arrived in Gader, Albania, on Wednesday.
On Friday, a judge in Rome ruled that the remaining migrants should also be sent back to Italy, despite their asylum claims being rejected. The judge ruled that their country of origin could not be recognized as a “safe country”.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi insisted Italy’s migrant camp plan would become European law within two years and said the government would appeal.
Current European law, enacted just two weeks ago by the European Court of Justice, states that a country is only considered safe if it “does not resort to persecution…torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. There is.
The deal between Italy and Albania has been closely watched across Europe, including the UK. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said last month that he had discussed the “concept” of a deal with Italy and Meloni.
EU leaders agreed at Thursday’s summit that the return of irregular migrants should be accelerated.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she was working on a new proposal and insisted that migrants who needed protection would be able to do so in a “safe third country”.
In a separate development, the Dutch government is facing difficulties with its own migration plan, which includes so-called return hubs for people whose asylum applications have been rejected.
The idea of sending people denied asylum to Uganda was first mooted by Foreign Trade Minister Lynette Clever of the far-right Liberal Party during a visit to East Africa.
The plan appeared to surprise Chancellor Dick Schuch at the EU summit, who said it was an “innovative solution”.
And on Friday, it emerged that it was also news for the Ugandan government. Foreign Minister Jeje Odongo told Dutch radio: “We did not and have never discussed anything about the Netherlands sending refugees to Uganda.”
“If there is a proposal to do so, we will consider it on a case-by-case basis.”
