Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is having her model for the rapid relocation of migrants picked up in the Mediterranean Sea to Albania revised after several defeats in court.
Two Italian-run migrant camps in Albania opened in October but are empty – much to the annoyance of the government. The plan was for Italian officials at the camps to quickly decide on asylum applications. If refused, they would be sent back to countries deemed safe.
But that model has yet to work due to a series of legal obstacles.
The judiciary in Rome has stopped the government’s plans three times since October. As a result, all of the 66 men who had been detained in Albania – far fewer than the site can accommodate – had to be brought to Italy.
Speaking in parliament, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi that in the future, migrants whose asylum applications have already been rejected on Italian soil could be housed in camps in Albania.
Italy is the only country in the European Union to operate such camps outside the EU. However, other European governments are closely monitoring the scheme, some of them with an eye to copying it.
On February 25, the European Court of Justice will deal with the model for the first time. So far, there is no date for the judgement.
Piantedosi said for the first time in the Chamber of Deputies that the government is working on “solutions to overcome the obstacles that have arisen so far.”
The cost of building and operating the camps is estimated at more than €650 million ($677 million). In principle, there is space for more than 1,200 migrants. The government says the camps will only be for adult men who, in its view, come from safe countries of origin.
Meanwhile, there is a fierce dispute between the government and the judiciary over the question of who is allowed to determine whether another country is a safe country of origin.
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