Italy announces deal to build migrant centers in Albania – POLITICO

Italy will build two migrant centers in northwest Albania to accommodate migrants rescued at sea by Italian boats, but not those who reached the coast, the prime ministers of the two countries announced on Monday.

“Mass illegal immigration is a phenomenon that no EU member state can manage alone,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said at a joint press conference in Rome with her Albanian counterpart Edi Rama.

Meloni, who heads the right-wing nationalist Brothers of Italy party, came to power in 2022 promising to curb immigration, but from year to year, arrivals have almost doubled. Italy’s Brothers have long promised to crack down on undocumented migrants, including by building processing facilities outside the EU.

Despite Meloni’s election promise to stop boat crossings from North Africa, more than 145,000 people have arrived in Italy by sea so far in 2023, compared to around 88,000 in the same period in 2022.

Before becoming prime minister, Meloni said Italy should “repatriate migrants to their countries, then sink the boats that rescued them.”

As thousands of migrants from third countries continue to flock to Europe, far-right parties from Germany to Spain have demanded that the Union toughen its stance on migration, with some parties rising in the polls thanks to their anti-immigration campaigns.

The European Commission offered money to Tunisia in July to stem migration flows from North Africa to Europe, but Tunisia I returned it.

The agreement between Italy and Albania is the first of its kind between an EU member country and a third state, like the plan presented by the United Kingdom to send asylum seekers in Rwanda, which was halted after a court ruled it unlawful.

“I consider this to be a real European agreement and I want to say that it shows that it is possible to work together in the management of migratory flows,” added Meloni.

The centers would be under Italian jurisdiction, built at Italian expense and expected to open by spring 2024. Children, pregnant women and “vulnerable people” will not be sent to the centers but will have their applications processed in Italy . Meloni said. According to the agreement, the centers in northwest Albania will be able to accommodate up to 36,000 people per year. once established.

Earlier this year, Meloni called on the EU to help him naval blockade to stop migrant crossings in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Albanian prime minister defended his country’s involvement in the project, calling Italy’s situation in the Mediterranean a “curse.”

“When you enter Italy, you enter the EU,” Rama said. “We may not have the strength and ability to be the solution, but we have a duty to Italy and the ability to lend a helping hand.”

The move was heavily criticized by opposition politicians in Italy, calling it a looming human rights disaster.

Angelo Bonelli, spokesperson for the Green Europe party said in a statement, it was a “flagrant violation of conventions and international law”.

“We cannot tolerate the right to asylum being rendered meaningless because of agreements that involve the movement of people to a third country without sufficient guarantees for their fundamental rights,” he said.

Riccardo Magi, secretary of the left-wing More Europe party, said on

“Italy cannot transport people rescued at sea to a third country as if they were packages or goods,” he said.

Albania applied for EU membership in 2009, for which Meloni reiterated Italy’s support at Monday’s press conference. “Albania remains a friendly nation and, although it is not yet a member, it behaves as if it were one. This is one of the reasons why I am proud that Italy has always been one of the countries that supports enlargement to the Western Balkans,” Meloni said.

And about Albania’s main trading partner, Rama said: “If Italy calls, we answer. »