In October, the court decided that the first group of migrants should be sent from Albanian centers to Italy.
An Italian navy ship brought the second group of eight asylum seekers, six Egyptians and two Bangladeshis, to the Albanian port of Shëngjin on Friday, the Italian interior ministry said. This happened despite the October decision of the court in Rome, which ordered the first group of migrants from these countries to be sent from Albanian centers to Italy, TASR writes, according to reports from the AFP and AP agencies.
From the island of Lampedusa
Migrants were brought to Albania by the ship Libra – the same as in the case of the first group. According to AP, the ship sailed from the Italian island of Lampedusa on Wednesday. Migrants will now travel to a reception center where their asylum applications will be assessed.
A Rome court at the end of October did not approve the detention of 12 migrants who were transported to Albania by an Italian ship as the first ever such group in accordance with Rome’s controversial agreement with Tirana. According to this agreement, migrants from safe countries could be sent to migration centers in Albania. However, Egypt and Bangladesh were also among them, which the Court of Justice of the European Union does not consider as such. In accordance with this verdict, the Roman court allowed the migrants to return to Italy.
However, the Italian government called the court’s decision biased and subsequently adopted a decree in which it establishes a new list of so-called safe countries, with the understanding that he may update it later. Subsequently, the government included 19 supposedly safe countries, including Egypt and Bangladesh, on the first such list.
Risk of further legal wrangling
In the meantime, the Bologna court has asked the Court of Justice of the European Union to review the decree, which could cause further legal wrangling and the possible return of migrants. Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni accuses the local judiciary of interfering in the country’s political affairs.
Italy’s controversial migration deal with Albania last year covers adult male migrants picked up by Italian navy or coast guard vessels in international waters. They must also come from the so-called safe countries. Their asylum applications will then be assessed in two Albanian centers operated by Italy and in accordance with the regulations of that country.
Those migrants whose applications will be assessed positively will subsequently return to Italy, while rejected asylum seekers will be threatened with deportation to their homeland. With the agreement with Tirana, Italy has become the first EU member state that will process asylum applications outside the territory of the Union.
