A multimillion-dollar migration deal between Italy and Albania aimed at curbing arrivals was presented by the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, as a new model for how to establish processing and detention centres for asylum seekers outside the EU.
The facilities in Albania were supposed to receive up to 3,000 men intercepted in international waters while crossing from Africa to Europe. But it seems neither von der Leyen nor Italy’s far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, had taken existing law into account.
Just a month after the much-publicised opening, only 24 asylum seekers have been sent to Albania, and none remain there now; five spent less than 12 hours in a detention centre, while the rest stayed for just over 48 hours.
All were transferred to Italy after Italian judges deemed it unlawful to detain them in Albania prior to repatriation to countries, such as Bangladesh and Egypt, considered “safe” by Rome. In doing so the judges were upholding a 4 October ruling by the European Union’s court of justice (ECJ) that a country outside the bloc could not be declared safe unless its entire territory was deemed safe.
www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/14/italy-albania-asylum-deal-complete-failure-giorgia-meloni