This is the third attempt by the Government of the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to implement their controversial plan to stop illegal migrants that are intercepted at sea, on their way to Italy, Albania
A total of 49 intercepted migrants at sea were transported on Tuesday by an Italy military ship to detention and expulsion centers in Albania, which were built by the Italian authorities, according to the international media.
The Italian Navy patrol boat ‘Cassiopea’ arrived at the Albanian port of Shëngjin at 7:45 am, local time (06:45 in Lisbon), a local news agency confirmed to EPA’s local photographer.
The Italian Interior Ministry has announced that these people will now be subject to “procedures for receiving, detention and evaluation of individual cases”, following the protocols of the agreement achieved with the Albanian Prime Minister, the social democrat Ed Rama. The 49 migrants are mostly from Bangladesh, Egypt, Ivory Coast and Gambia.
This is the third attempt by the Government of the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to implement their controversial plan to stop illegal migrants that are intercepted at sea, on their way to Italy, Albania.
In the center of SHëngjin, asylum applicants will be identified and subject to a rigorous medical examination, since if vulnerability conditions are detected, they will be referred to Italy, as has happened in some cases in the two previous transfers to Albania, which were held in October.
The first two attempts also failed because the Italian courts did not approve the transfers, arguing that neither Egypt nor Bangladesh were totally safe countries and requested the intervention of the European Union Court (EU).
Since then, the centers have been empty, watched and managed by an increasingly smaller team, which has generated strong criticism of the Italian government about the spending involved in this operation.
Subsequently, the Italian Supreme Court noted that it is up to the government to determine which countries are safe and that a judge cannot systematically invalidate migrants, having to present arguments in specific cases not to allow sending to Albania.
Upon evaluation of cases, migrants will be sent to the Gjader Detention Center, which has a capacity of 3,000 people per month and is surrounded by a seven meters high, covered with wire and equipped with surveillance cameras.
Italy financed the construction of the center, located in an ancient air base built during the communist dictatorship in Albania. The Italian government generates the center and the Albanian police are limited to monitoring its external perimeter.
