Italy’s far-right government has announced plans to create centres in Albania to accommodate asylum seekers, the prime minister said on Monday, hailing it as a “historic” deal with Tirana to manage migration flows.
“I am pleased to announce with Albanian prime minister Edi Rama a memorandum of understanding between Italy and Albania concerning the management of migration flows,” said Giorgia Meloni. “Italy is Albania’s top trading partner. There is already close collaboration in the fight against illegality.”
The agreement involves setting up centres in Albania that can accommodate up to 3,000 people. Those allocated to Albania will be people rescued at sea by Italian boats.
“We started discussing this with the idea that mass illegal immigration is a phenomenon no EU member state can handle alone, and collaboration between EU states is crucial,” added Meloni.
The partnership was solidified during the mid-August Ferragosto holiday, according to sources in the prime minister’s office, despite previous reports of Meloni being on holiday in Albania.
“This is the first agreement of its kind,” the sources said. “It is a historic agreement, not only for Italy, but for the entire European Union.”
Italy’s opposition parties have criticised the agreement, describing it as a “mess”.
“They are creating a sort of Italian Guantánamo, outside of any international standard, outside of the EU without the possibility of monitoring the detention status of the people locked up in these centres,” said Riccardo Magi, the president of the leftwing More Europe party. “Italy cannot transport people saved at sea to a non-EU country as if they were packages or goods.”
Sources from the government reported in the media said Albania would host in its centres only people rescued at sea and not asylum seekers who arrive on Italian shores and territory, with the exception of minors, pregnant women and vulnerable individuals, who will be moved to Italy.
The centres are capable of accommodating a total of up to 3,000 of the 39,000 people expected within a year.
“If Italy calls Albania, we respond,” said Rama. “It is not for us to judge the political merits of decisions made in this and other institutions. It is our duty to lend a helping hand.”
“Geography has become a curse for Italy. When you enter Italy, you enter the EU,” said the Albanian prime minister. “We may not have the strength and capacity to be the solution, but we have a duty towards Italy and the ability to lend a hand. Albania may not be part of the union, but it is a European state. We lack the ‘U’ at the beginning, but that does not prevent us from being and seeing the world as Europeans.”
In exchange for Rama’s support in managing migration flows, Meloni said she would do everything in her power to support Albania’s entry into the EU.
“Albania continues to be a friendly nation, and despite not yet being 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 supporting the enlargement to the western Balkans,” said Meloni.
“The EU is not a club. So, I am not talking about entry but the reunification of the western Balkans, which are EU countries in all but name.”
