FLASH
Shkruar nga Javier Villamor
The Meloni government must defend in court the protocol for processing asylum applications outside Italy, something that Brussels also supports...
The migration agreement signed between Italy and Albania highlights the growing divide between national institutions and the European establishment regarding the handling of illegal immigration.
While the European Commission and some member states increasingly agree with, and even copy, these extraterritorial solutions, Giorgia Meloni's government is facing a high-level legal challenge at home: an opinion from the Court of Cassation, Italy's highest court, declaring the protocol unconstitutional and incompatible with European law.
The pact, which allows Italy to transfer and process asylum applications to centers located on Albanian territory, was presented by the Italian government as an innovative tool to prevent mass arrivals across the Mediterranean. However, since its signing in 2023, it has encountered numerous legal obstacles, forcing repeated changes. The most recent and significant obstacle is a ruling by the Court of Cassation, which openly questions the legality of the procedure.
The Court warns of the ambiguity in the definition of "migrants" and the possible violation of fundamental rights guaranteed by the Italian Constitution, EU law and international treaties. One of the most important criticisms concerns the possibility of prolonged detention without a clear legal basis, which could constitute arbitrary detention, and the lack of procedural safeguards on Albanian soil. The report fails to explain why the detention of a person attempting to enter a country illegally constitutes arbitrary detention.
Paradoxically, while the Italian government must defend the protocol before its judges, the European institutions not only do not condemn this protocol, but view it favorably, also as a way to appease segments of the electorate that are increasingly disillusioned with current policies, including the most ardent Europhiles.
Brussels is pursuing this externalization of migration control with growing interest, which fits with the general trend of third countries becoming "buffers" for immigration to the continent.
The recent European Pact on Migration and Asylum also includes similar measures, albeit with more legal protection. However, there is no mention of reducing immigration or preventing millions of people from arriving in Europe without a reason. Quite the opposite: the trend is to legalize illegal immigration by any means possible.
This double standard reveals a contradiction: what is tolerated and even encouraged at the European level is subject to strict judicial scrutiny at the national level.
Giorgia Meloni, who has made migration control one of her political hallmarks, finds herself caught between external support and internal resistance. European Affairs Minister Tommaso Foti did not hesitate to denounce judicial "obstructionism". At the same time, Forza Italia went so far as to accuse the judiciary of being infiltrated by far-left activists.
The legal battle has just begun. Although the Court of Cassation's opinion is not binding, it could set a precedent in the courts of first instance and even pave the way to the Court of Justice of the European Union. /Adapted from Pamphlet by europeanconservative/
Lini një Përgjigje