Twelve migrants housed in an asylum seeker center in Albania under a controversial agreement with Rome were returned to Italy this Saturday, October 19, after an Italian court invalidated their detention.
This is a severe setback for the ultra-conservative Government of Giorgia Meloni, which has made the fight against irregular immigration one of its main political warhorses and has presented the agreement with Tirana as a model for its European Union partners.
Four of them identified as “vulnerable”
Sixteen men from Bangladesh and Egypt arrived this Wednesday at the Albanian port of Shengjin, almost a year after Rome and Tirana concluded this protocol that provides for the creation of two centers in Albania, from where migrants rescued in the Mediterranean will be able to request asylum.
However, shortly after their arrival, four of them were identified as “vulnerable” (two claimed to be minors and two others needed medical treatment) and were returned to Italy.
The remaining 12 asylum seekers boarded an Italian coast guard ship, the “Guardia Costiera CP 422”, this Saturday morning and were disembarked in the afternoon in Bari, southern Italy, an Italian government source said.
A five year agreement
Italian judges in the migration affairs section of the Rome court overturned his detention, citing a recent ruling by the European Court of Justice on countries of origin considered “safe” by host countries.
The court ruled that, according to this ruling, the 12 immigrants did not meet the criteria to be detained in Albania and that they should be returned to Italy.
Signed in November by Giorgia Meloni and her Albanian counterpart, Edi Rama, the agreement between Rome and Tirana lasts for five years and concerns adult men intercepted by the Italian navy or coast guard in their search and rescue zone in international.
The procedure provides for a first check on a military ship, before a transfer to a center in northern Albania, in the port of Shengjin, for identification, and then to a second center, in a former military base in Gjader.
“Failure was announced”
The return of the first immigrants transferred to Albania marks “the chronicle of a foreseen failure,” the MEP of the Democratic Party (center-left, opposition), Irene Tinagli, mocked this Saturday.
“Thinking about managing the flow of migrants by sending a few to Albania is ridiculous and useless,” he said.
According to the Italian Ministry of the Interior, more than 55,000 people have landed on Italian territory since January 1 after crossing the Mediterranean. There were just over 140,000 in 2023 and 76,000 in 2022 during the same period.
The Italian government is expected to consider a new decree in the Council of Ministers on Monday to comply with European jurisprudence.
The two far-right parties that, together with Forza Italia (right), constitute the Italian executive, Fratelli d’Italia and La Ligue, criticized the “politicized” and “pro-immigrant” judges after the decision of the Roman court.
Source: BFM TV