After months of delay and controversy, the Italian centers for migrants built at the port of Shëngjin and on a former military base in Gjadër have been operational since Friday, October 11. It remains to be seen whether this project of outsourcing thousands of migrants per month can really come to fruition.
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“ Everything is ready to welcome migrants », Said the Italian ambassador to Albania, Fabrizio Bucci during a visit organized for the press to the reception centers for migrants, already supposed to be operational in August. Built at the expense ofItaly and under the jurisdiction of this country, these centers, whose total cost will reach one billion euros, must accommodate men intercepted at sea by Italian ships. “Vulnerable people” such as women and children are not affected.
The Shëngjin site will allow the first administrative procedures to be carried out for migrants. The one in Gjadër will be used to accommodate migrants in three different structures: one for those who need to be repatriated, the other for asylum seekers and the third for those who have committed an offense within one of the centers.
Ultimately, the Italian-Albanian protocol provides for the reception of 36,000 migrants per year, specifies our correspondent in Rome, Anne Le Nir. But a recent ruling from the European Court of Justice establishes that, to be considered “safe”, a country must be completely safe. Which calls into question the list of 22 “safe” countries established by Italy for accelerated repatriation procedures.
In other words, the plan to discourage asylum seekers in Italy could quickly collapse like a house of cards. But that will not prevent the head of the far-right government, Giorgia Meloniand the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, to inaugurate with great fanfare the two centers in Albania, where they are expected next week.
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