The Albanian Constitutional Court will examine, on Thursday, in Tirana, the appeals filed against the “migration plan” signed between Albania and Italy. The text plans to send migrants rescued at sea by the Italian authorities to the Balkan country.
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It is up to justice to decide. The ratification of the agreement between Rome and Tirana concerning the outsourcing of part of the migrants intercepted off the Italian coast is suspended. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday, January 18, before the Albanian Constitutional Court which must study the appeals filed by around thirty deputies close to the Democratic Party, the formation of former Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha, and by the party itself.
The agreement, signed on November 6, 2023 by the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, and her Albanian counterpart, Edi Rama, provides that two migrant reception centers, managed by Italy, will be created in Albania. They will welcome around 39,000 asylum seekers each year, 3,000 people can be supported there at a time. These centers will be established in the port of Shengjin and on the site of the former Gjader airport, in the north of the country. This involves welcoming migrants rescued in the Mediterranean Sea by the coast guard or the Italian police.
See alsoEdi Rama: “The migration agreement with Italy creates conspiracy theories because we are outside the EU”
Giorgia Meloni clarified that the agreement does not concern “minors, pregnant women, and vulnerable people”.
Italy will finance infrastructure for the stay of migrants in Albania. The country will also cover possible health or departure costs for migrants at the end of the asylum application procedure. Rome will also compensate Tirana for the external surveillance of the reception centers which the Albanian police will be responsible for, if the project is ratified.
The overall cost of the project amounts to 200 million euros, according to the Italian government. “There will be no expenditure on the Albanian side. Rome will take responsibility for everything,” summarizes Teuta Vodo, a political scientist, teacher at Sciences-Po Paris and former Albanian Minister of Justice.
Part of Albanian territory under the jurisdiction of Rome
In Tirana, the project provokes mixed reactions, to say the least. For Albanian analyst Andi Bushati, quoted by Courrier des Balkans, “the agreement signed by the two Prime Ministers to welcome refugees that Italy will not accept reduces our country to the rank of a banana republic. (… ) Fragments of the national territory are ceded to the personal convenience of a Prime Minister who thinks he is no longer accountable to anyone.
For the opposition, this is where the problem lies. “She denounces the fact that the agreement was not authorized by the President of the Republic while these centers will be placed under the jurisdiction of Rome. Can the Italians manage part of the territory of Albania, a country sovereign?”, asks Teuta Vodo.
The opposition also denounces a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. “Migrants will be limited in their movements. They will have to stay inside these centers,” continues the political scientist.
In Italy, the Prime Minister is playing big. The president of the far-right Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) party was elected in September 2022 by promising strict control of illegal immigration deemed “massive”. Giorgia Meloni then wanted a “European mission, including a naval mission if necessary” to prevent migrant boats from reaching Italy.
“The only way to stop illegal immigration is a maritime blockade, that is to say a European mission in agreement with the North African authorities. This is the only way we can put an end to it. “to illegal departures to Italy and the tragedy of deaths at sea”, she declared in August 2022, recalls the InfoMigrants information site.
A proposal considered unrealistic. In 2023, the number of illegal migrants (155,754) will double in Italy compared to the previous year. “Since the far-right leader came to power, wars have broken out, coups have taken place in the Sahel. Not to mention the worsening climate and energy crisis… All these factors have resulted in to the increase in migratory flows”, explains Nathalie Tocci, Italian political scientist and director of the Institute of International Affairs (IAI) based in Rome. “But Giorgia Meloni’s electorate demands, despite everything, results. And this project is above all a message sent to her electoral base. The Prime Minister seeks above all to show that she is fighting against illegal immigration, a few months before European elections scheduled for next June.
Nathalie Tocci believes that the Albanian Prime Minister has “done a service” to Giorgia Meloni and that “Tirana will receive a return. Without doubt stronger Italian support for the European aspirations of Albania, a candidate country for membership of the Union European”, assures the political scientist.
The fact remains that if it is ratified, this agreement will only have a “very limited” effect, believes Nathalie Tocci. “The reception capacities of the two Albanian centers are ridiculous.” The Albanian Constitutional Court will rule before March 6.
