The Italian court has also overturned the Court of Rome in charge of the case, and has also referred it to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and, pending a ruling from this body, has immediately suspended the confinement of a group of seven migrants – five from Bangladesh and two from Egypt – who had landed last Friday in the controversial center built by the Italian Government in Albanian territory, for which they will be returned to Italy.
Initially, the Meloni Executive had selected eight people from Egypt and Bangladesh, who were rescued in Mediterranean waters near the island of Lampedusa. When they were already in Albanian territory, it was found that one of them was in conditions of extreme vulnerability due to health problems, something that should have been detected in the previous control, so his return to Italy was ordered. The seven remaining migrants in that group were the only ones of the thousand who have arrived in recent days on the Italian island who met the requirements set by the Executive to be transferred to Albania: men, of legal age, in good health, not accompanied by family members and coming from countries considered safe by the Italian Government.
and justice has once again stopped this strategy of the far-right leader of taking immigrants rescued at sea to centers on Albanian soil with the intention of repatriating them. Once again, the judges have not validated the exceptional detention of migrants – which is the necessary step to retain them in Albanian centers – by leaving it on hold.
On the first occasion, in mid-October, the Roman court directly prohibited the retention of a group of 12 migrants sent to Albania, also from Egypt and Bangladesh, countries considered safe by the Meloni Executive. Furthermore, the magistrates maintained that for a country to be considered “safe” for a return it must be so throughout its territory, based on a recent CJEU ruling. The European court narrowed the list of safe countries of origin to whose citizens the rapid protocol could be applied, leaving out almost all those who arrive in Italy by sea, including Egypt and Bangladesh.
The clash between the Executive and the judiciary was major. Meloni and his coalition accused the judges of playing politics to prevent the detentions in Albania and in which both Egypt and Bangladesh were kept, in an attempt to facilitate the expulsion of immigrants from these countries who arrive in Italy through of the Mediterranean.
With the second ruling, the judges have avoided delving into the confrontation, since they do not expressly prohibit the retention of migrants, as they did in the previous one, and leave the process on hold, appealing to a response from the European Union. The magistrates who have studied the case consider that this option is the most “suitable” to “clarify several points of doubtful compatibility” of the Meloni decree with European regulations. “The criteria for designating a safe country are established by European Union law,” the judges emphasize in their ruling.
The vice president of the Government and leader of the far-right League, Matteo Salvini, has been the first to criticize the new ruling of the judges. “Another political sentence that is not against the Government, but against Italians and their security,” he said.
Meloni’s immigration experiment has also been harshly criticized, especially for its dubious legality and effectiveness and for its high cost. The Albanian centers were inaugurated on October 14 and during this time the 24 migrants rescued near Lampedusa who have arrived in Albania on Italian military ships, divided into two different operations, have had to travel for two days to barely set foot on Albanian soil and shortly after returning to Italy. Five of them returned to the transalpine country practically immediately, with extraordinary transfers on Italian navy ships, even before receiving the judges’ ruling, due to being in conditions of extreme vulnerability.
