FLASH
Shkruar nga PamfletiWorse than that, it could have been difficult for Italy's right-wing government: A week ago, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the EU summit advertised her model of how to manage an asylum processing center in a third place. But now the newly built center in Albania - not counting the Italian staff - has remained empty again, for the second time in a short time.
In October, Italy had to return 16 asylum seekers transported to Albania, as some were minors, another was sick, and twelve others, because according to the law their application had to be examined in Italy. A week ago on Friday (08.11), the government made a second attempt by sending seven migrants from Egypt and Bangladesh to Albania. But on Monday (11.11) a court in Rome decided the return of these persons to Italy, referring to the fact that the clarification should ultimately be passed to the European Court. A border guard boat took the refugees back to Brindizi.
In case of overcrowding, the Italian government hopes to send up to 40,000 asylum seekers attempting to enter Italy illegally to Albania's asylum processing center. But even a month after the occasional postponement, it remains unclear if even a single decision on asylum in the shelter in Albania will ever be made.
"Now it would actually be the right step, for the Meloni government to say: 'Okay, we tried, but it's not possible,'" says Hein, a political scientist specializing in the field of immigration policies and the right to asylum at the University LUISS in Rome. This is due to the fact that the European Court and some Italian courts in recent weeks have expressed reservations regarding the concept practiced by Italy regarding the determination of safe countries of origin - "Egypt and Bangladesh in particular, but also Tunisia, are the countries where asylum seekers mainly come from in Italy", expert Hein tells DW.
IOM: "No inhibitory effect at all"
The model agreement with Albania is not the only restrictive measure through which the government of the far-right party "Fratelli d'Italia" is trying to limit irregular migration: Since it has been in power since October 2022, restrictive laws have been issued regarding marine emergency rescue. Ships must now complete their mission as soon as they take on board those in need. They are then directed to sail to remote ports in northern Italy, making rescue missions more costly and ineffective.
Asked by DW, the UN Organization for Migration (IOM) admits that during this year there were much fewer arrivals compared to the same period of the previous year. However, the IOM spokeswoman explains that: "If we refer to the arrivals of the last few months, which have had to do with bad weather, you can say that the agreement between Italy and Albania has not had any inhibitory effect so far. Over 3,300 migrant arrivals by sea in Italy have been registered in the last eleven days alone."
The spokeswoman adds that Europe, referring to the number of arrivals of irregular migrants, is currently far from the emergency situation of 2015.
Great interest – similar to the British model with Rwanda
Regardless of the problems, Italy's agreement with its neighbor across the Adriatic seems to have been welcomed by other European governments; Denmark, the Netherlands, but also opposition politicians in Germany prefer to consider the model for channeling migration to third countries. Italy is a precedent case within the EU and thus attracted a lot of attention, just like Great Britain before. London's deal with Rwanda ultimately collapsed in the summer after the Conservative government had invested around €830 million.
"The legal, logistical and financial difficulties - and this was also demonstrated by the Albanian model - are so great that in the end all this mobilization of resources and energy is not worth it", concludes Christopher Hein. We are dealing with "failed attempts to misdirect the migration and asylum situation, which neither serves asylum seekers nor justifies the population's needs for more order."
Will Meloni damage millions of euros with the shelter in Albania?
Even for Italy, the model with Albania risks turning into a financial failure. The government calculates the management costs until 2029 at over 500 million euros. Meanwhile, State Control has been set in motion in Italy, the EU country with high debts.
Jurisprudence professor Hein notes that there is clearly a disproportion between the expenses and the number of asylum seekers involved: "This may even have criminal consequences." The State Control, according to Hein, also has the power to suspend further expenses as a result of the verification.
In the coming weeks, the decision of the Court of Cassation, the highest instance in Italy, is expected - regarding the case, whether Italy has violated the European rules in declaring the countries of origin as safe. A decision is also expected from the European Court in Luxembourg. It is possible that soon these instances will decide whether the Italian government will be able to adhere to its model with Albania or not./DW
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