After , the Prime Minister of Italy, the ultra Giorgia Meloni, has decided to temporarily stop the deportation of undocumented migrants who have been rescued in international waters, to the controversial centers built in Albania that, according to the newspaper La Republica would have cost the Italian State in addition to the cost it must pay for each boat transfer.
The project, one of the star measures of the Meloni Government to stop irregular immigration arriving in Italy, has already entered a state of hibernation. At least until the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) with the European legislation that contains the decree that the far-right prime minister approved to shield the list of safe countries for sending migrants.
According to sources from the Italian Ministry of the Interior, the deportation centers inaugurated in September in the Albanian ports of Shëngjin and Gjadër are now operating at half throttle. Many of the Italian staff hired to manage the facilities have already returned to Italy.. In Albani, only some of the personnel who have administrative or maintenance functions have remained, as well as workers from the migrant association, although they are expected to leave the Italian facilities in Albanian territory.
Giorgia Meloni’s original project included three facilities: a reception center for 880 people, a detention center with capacity for 144 migrants and a small prison with 20 places. However, since its opening, , which calls into question the effectiveness of the plan. Initially, the Italian government assigned 500 workers to this initiative, including police, military and civil servants, but in recent weeks, about 75% of the personnel have already left the deportation centers. “What is left in Albania? A pharaonic structure built by local businessmen with taxes from Italian families, centers destined to wither. In Albania, the face of Meloni remains, the author of unprecedented waste,” criticized the former prime minister last Saturday. Minister Matteo Renzi.
A costly failure
Meloni’s initial project aimed to transfer healthy adult men from countries considered safe, such as Egypt and Bangladesh, to barracks built on the Albanian coast and, once there, subject them to accelerated repatriation processes. However, the only two times that attempts were made to launch the ‘Operation Albaniathe Court of Rome overturned the measures of the ultra-Italian government because, it considers, the list of safe countries drawn up by the Italian Executive does not comply with the legislation in force in the EU, relying on a ruling issued, precisely, by the CJEU.
The Operation Albaniawhich has resulted in both an economic and political fiasco. The government invested in the construction of two large centers, ordered the deployment of dozens of police officers and has used a Navy ship to transport small groups of migrants. Despite the deployment, these people have had to return to Italy to start their asylum application.
The debate on the so-called “safe countries” continues to be a key and hot point in the migration policy of the European Union. The new EU migration pact, which will be in force in 2026, wants to harmonize the concept between member states. However, until it is underway, initiatives like Giorgia Meloni’s face a path full of uncertainties.
Meanwhile, the Meloni Government’s attempts to circumvent judicial restrictions have opened a significant rift between the ultra-Italian Executive and the Judiciary, with accusations and crossed statements. Vice President Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right party Ligahas accused judges of interfering in Italian politics while the National Association of Magistrates (ANM), which represents judges and prosecutors in the country, denounced “the increasingly frequent attacks” by politicians on judicial rulings.
