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International media have echoed the Rama-Meloni pact for immigrants. In an article about this issue, the news agency "Reuters" writes that Italy will build centers in Albania to host immigrants, in order to reduce the number of refugees within its territory.
Among other things, "Reuters" writes that Melon's right-wing party has long demanded that such facilities be erected outside the European Union, proposing North Africa, but no country from that region had accepted it.
Full article:
Italy will build reception centers in Albania for migrants trying to get ashore, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni declared today, who unveiled a new scheme in an effort to reduce the numbers that have almost doubled last year. Meloni said the Albanian centers will initially house around 3,000 people when they open in the spring of 2024. She said the Italian government then hoped to increase capacity to handle 36,000 migrants a year. More than 145,000 people have come ashore in Italy so far in 2023, compared with around 88,000 in the same period in 2022.
Meloni's administration has toughened prison sentences for people smugglers and decided to increase the number of detention centers across the country to hold immigrants before their possible repatriation. Meloni's far-right party, the 'Brothers of Italy', has long called for such facilities to be set up outside the European Union, proposing North Africa, but no country from that region had accepted.
"I consider this a real European agreement and I want to say that it shows that it is possible to work together for the management of migration flows. The immigrants will stay in these centers for the time needed to quickly process the requests for asylum and, if necessary, for repatriation," Meloni said during a press conference with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama. Furthermore, the Italian leader said that minors, pregnant women and other groups that pose a health risk would not be sent to Albania.
Few other details of the project, including costs, have been revealed. A source in her office said the aim of the plan was to prevent migrant departures and human trafficking and would only apply to migrants rescued at sea by the Italian coastguard or navy, not by charity groups. The same source denied that Italy would pay Albania money for the centers.
Therefore, Meloni said that Italy will build an identification structure for immigrants in the Albanian port of Shengjin and a repatriation center inland. Both facilities will operate under Italian jurisdiction, she said.
Speaking in Italian, Prime Minister Rama said that he felt it his duty to help Rome thanks to the special relations between the two countries, which are also connected by geographical proximity and colonial history. "Lending a hand in this case means helping to manage a situation that everyone sees as difficult for Italy," said Rama.
The main countries from which migrants arrived in Italy in 2023 are Guinea, Ivory Coast and Tunisia, official data say. Rome's plan echoes an attempt by the British government to send thousands of asylum seekers to Rwanda. This plan has been blocked in the courts since its inception.
"This is something very repressive towards foreign nationals who have a lower category status for personal freedom because they are not citizens of the European Union," Maurizio Veglio, a lawyer and expert on immigration law, told Reuters.
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