It took just three days for Albania’s grand project led by the President of the Italian Council, Giorgia Meloni, to suffer an embarrassing setback. Friday 18 October, when the far-right leader was thought to be in Beirut to respond to Israel’s attack on the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), a court in Rome delivered a serious insult against him.
Judges in the Italian capital have in fact ordered the transfer to Italy of the first twelve migrants detained in Italy’s recently opened legal center on Albanian territory to process asylum requests and the possible expulsion of exiles rescued at sea. Arriving on Wednesday 16 October at the location, they boarded a coast guard ship on Saturday 19 October to leave Albania.
The eighteenth section of the Court of Rome, in charge of procedures relating to Italian detention centers in Albania, ruled that the migrants, of Bengali and Egyptian nationality, had the right to be transported to Italy due to the impossibility of recognizing their State. As long as they are a “safe” country, the guarantee of democracy is not guaranteed there.
Only citizens of countries placed by Rome in this category may be held in structures established in Albania. The decision is based on a decision issued on 4 October by the European Court of Justice which challenged a Member State designating a third country as “safe” if that country is only safe for part of its territory or part of its population.
Borderline madness
Called into question a few days after this first practical implementation, the agreement between Italy and Albania required almost a year of preparation. mIMeloni signed it with his Albanian counterpart, Edi Rama, in November 2023. Providing for the construction of two enclaves under Italian law on Albanian territory, the agreement is valid for a period of five years. The pact’s framework provides for the simultaneous detention of up to a thousand healthy adult men from third countries deemed “safe” and rescued in international waters by Italian authorities.
The migrants in question are officially not allowed to touch Albanian soil. Their asylum requests must be processed according to Italian legal procedures, exactly as they were when they landed on the Italian peninsula. The expulsion of rejected persons should also be decided during their stay in the centers. Rome considered that such a system, although regulated by Italian law, would deter potential exiles.
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