Politics

Italian prime minister visits future Albanian centers for migrants sent by Italy

Italy’s prime minister, Georgia Meloni, has visited Albania to see holding centers for thousands of would-be immigrants to Italy who will have their asylum claims assessed while being housed outside the EU.

Meloni said the two centers she visited would be ready to receive their first migrants on August 1 as part of a deal with the Albanian government that other EU member states have sought to emulate.

Under the arrangement, Albania will accept up to 3,000 people a month who have been rescued from international waters in a bid to reach Europe. Italy is a major country of arrival for migrants seeking to enter Europe, being one of the end points of the so-called Central Mediterranean route from North Africa.

Italy would process the migrants’ asylum application and if successful would accept them into the country. If their claim is rejected, Italy would then organize their return from Albania to their country of origin. With asylum claims taking on average a month to consider, Albania could host as many as 36,000 migrants a year.

Meloni and her Albanian counterpart, Edi Rama, signed a five-year agreement last November which foresees Rome paying 670 million euros for the two centers.

Although the plan has raised objections from rights groups as it involves relocating migrants to outside the European Union, Meloni said 15 or the EU’s 27 member states had asked the European Commission (EC) if the bloc could follow Italy’s example. The arrangement has been endorsed by EC President Ursula von der Leyen as “out-of-the-box thinking”.

Thanking Rama for his country’s support, Meloni said of the move: “The most useful element of this project is that it can represent an extraordinary tool of deterrence for illegal migrants destined to reach Europe.”

Following a press conference during Meloni’s visit, a political rival, Riccardo Maggi of the liberal +Europa party, tried to block the two prime ministers’ convoys and clashed with security guards. Meloni stopped and exchanged words with Maggi, who called the deal with Albani a failure from the outset and accused Meloni of exploiting it for political gain ahead of European elections in which migration is a key issue.
Source: AP
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