Italy faces big setback over migrant camps in Albania
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s five-year agreement to transfer migrants rescued at sea to processing camps in Albania has faced a major setback from the courts, just days after the first arrivals.
A special immigration court in Rome ruled that 12 migrants sent to the camp in Gjader, located near the Adriatic coast in northern Albania, must be returned to Italy because they come from countries deemed unsafe for deportation.
Meloni’s arrangement with Albania has drawn significant attention from Western allies, and the Italian government plans to appeal the ruling.
“It’s not for the judiciary to determine which countries are safe; that’s the government’s responsibility,” she told reporters.
A cabinet meeting has been scheduled for next Monday.
Although the EU reports a 64% decrease in irregular migration this year through the Central Mediterranean route, European governments are still facing pressure to reduce the number of arrivals.
The Italian agreement with Albania aims to process and repatriate about 3,000 irregular migrants rescued from the Mediterranean each month across two camps.
However, the estimated cost of €800 million (£666 million) has faced criticism from opposition leaders, including Elly Schlein of the Democratic Party, who argued that the funds could have been better allocated to healthcare.
The deal excludes women and children, and the first group of men arrived in Albania on Wednesday aboard an Italian navy ship, three days after being part of a larger group of 85 individuals rescued at sea.
Initially, there were 10 men from Bangladesh and six from Egypt on board the ship Libra, but this number was quickly reduced from 16 to 12 after health screenings identified two as children and two as vulnerable.
On Friday, judges in Rome decided the rest of the migrants should be returned to Italy too, even though their asylum applications had been turned down. The judges ruled it was impossible to recognise their countries of origin as “safe countries”.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said the government would take the case to appeal, insisting that Italy’s migrant camp plan would become European law within two years.
Current European law was spelt out only two weeks ago by the European Court of Justice, which said a country could only be considered safe if “persecution… torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is never resorted to”.
Italy’s deal with Albania is being watched closely elsewhere in Europe, including in the UK. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he had discussed the “concept” of Italy’s deal with Meloni last month.
EU leaders agreed at a summit on Thursday that returns of irregular migrants should be speeded up.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said new proposals were being worked on, and she argued that migrants in need of protection could have that protection in “safe third countries”.
In a separate development, the Dutch government has run into difficulties with a migrant plan of its own, involving a so-called return hub for rejected asylum seekers.
The idea to send people refused asylum to Uganda was first mooted by Reinette Klever, a foreign trade minister from the far-right Freedom Party, during a visit to East Africa.
The plan appeared to catch Prime Minister Dick Schoof by surprise at the EU summit, although he said it was an “innovative solution”.
And on Friday it became clear that it was also news to Uganda’s government. “We did not discuss anything about the Netherlands sending refugees to Uganda, we did not,” Foreign Minister Jeje Odongo told Dutch radio.
“If there is a proposal to do that we will look at it on a case by case basis.”
