Patrol boat Italian The Navy's Libra, with 16 men on board, set sail from the Italian island of Lampedusa on Monday and is due to arrive in Albania on Wednesday. In the first round, there are ten migrants from Bangladesh and six from Egypt, a government source told France Presse.
The transfer of migrants from Italy to Albania is being carried out in accordance with a controversial agreement signed in late 2023 between Italy's far-right government and the government in Tirana to establish two centers in Albania where migrants can apply for asylum in the EU and await the outcome there.
This procedure does not cover persons considered vulnerable by law: minors, women, persons with mental problems, persons who are victims of torture, sexual violence or human trafficking.
Italy thus became the first EU country to "export" migrants to another country. However, it may not be the last. Italy and Hungary proposed to expand this procedure at the European level by creating "return hubs" - sending illegal migrants to countries outside the EU. That proposal could be discussed at the Union summit on October 17 and 18 in Brussels.
In the case of Hungary, a potential country that would accept migrants could be Serbia.
Orban: First we check migrants in Belgrade
As Deutsche Welle wrote, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán boasted in June of this year that Hungary is already formed centers outside the country in which migrants' requests for asylum are considered.
"If migrants want to come to Hungary, they must first contact the Hungarian embassy, for example in the capital of Serbia, Belgrade. All their documents are checked there. Migrants can enter the country only if the Hungarian authorities give the green light. Otherwise, no," explained Orbán.
On June 13, the European Court of Justice sentenced Hungary to a fine of 200 million euros, because it did not comply with the current EU law on asylum.
Among other things, Hungary restricted access to the international protection process and illegally detained asylum seekers in transit zones.
At the beginning of October, the Prime Minister of Hungary stated that this country will start to sends migrants to Brussels, if the European Union insists on a fine of 200 million euros.
"If Brussels persists in its decision to punish us, it will get what it wants." We will take the migrants who knock on our door to the main square in Brussels," he said Orban, reports Politiko.
Agreement between Austria and Serbia
Although Italy is the first country to actually deliver migrants to another country, it is not the first to come up with this idea.
Namely, in September 2019, the former Austrian Minister of the Interior, Herbert Kickl, said in a program broadcast on the Austrian public service ORF2 that during his ministerial responsibility, an agreement was reached with Serbia, which provides that Jews who received a negative response in Austria the request for asylum, which their countries do not want to take back, is sent by Vienna to Serbia.
This news went under the radar in Austria, but it was well received in Belgrade - primarily in opposition circles.
The then leader of Dveri, Boško Obradović, said then for Deutsche says that "the government has never asked the citizens of Serbia in an election or referendum whether this is acceptable for them."
When asked why the government of the Serbian Progressive Party would accept migrants who were not welcome elsewhere, Obradović replied: "I have the impression that this is part of the concession that our government is willing to pay in order to get the support of the Western power centers to stay in power."
Conducted negotiations
However, the Serbian Ministry of the Interior never made a statement on this matter, which, apparently, ultimately came to nothing.
Did this contract even exist?
Kikl's parliamentary club said at the time that during his ministerial tenure, "proper negotiations were conducted at the clerical level and an agreement was negotiated with Serbia on the admission of approximately 200 persons". In question, they added, are rejected asylum seekers who passed through Serbia on their way to Austria. However, they also explained that they do not know whether the implementation of the contract continued after Kikl lost his ministerial position.
Is there a legal basis for this contract? In June 2003, the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro signed an agreement with Austria that regulates the "return and acceptance of persons with illegal residence". That agreement is still in force, and Serbia inherits it as the legal successor of SCG. According to this agreement, Austria and Serbia can ask each other to take over third-country nationals or stateless people "if it is proven or made credible" that these people have previously resided or passed through the territory of the other signatory.
So, in theory, Austria can ask Serbia to receive a migrant who does not have the right to reside in Austria, if it is proven that he passed through the Balkan route via Serbia.
How many migrants are there in Serbia?
Until July of this year, Serbia had 11 reception centers for migrants and six asylum centers. In July, the reception centers in Šid, Dimitrovgrad and Kikinda were permanently closed, while the work of the asylum centers in Tutin and Banja Koviljača, as well as the reception centers in Pirot, Bosilegrad, Sombor, Subotica and Adasevci was temporarily suspended from August 1 to September 30. .
KIRS announced that this was due to "the continuous reduction of the migratory flow in Serbia for a long period of time, which significantly affected the occupancy of the accommodation capacities of the asylum centers and reception centers".
However, human rights activists believe that this is a bad decision. The director of the non-governmental Center for the Protection and Assistance of Asylum Seekers, Radoš Đurović, claims that due to the closure of the reception centers, migrants will increasingly seek help from smugglers.
"When you have no accommodation and you enter the country, the only ones who can help you and provide you with some accommodation are the smugglers." They will charge a lot for it, maybe they will abuse you, exploit you, hold you hostage. And that goes past the radar of the institutions, past the system," Đurović told RFE/RL.
According to the report of the Serbian Commissariat for Refugees and Migration (KIRS), 2023 migrants passed through Serbia in 107.374. On the KIRS website, it is stated that this number is about 12 percent lower than in 2022.
"Migration should not be understood as something bad that happens in society, it's just important to manage it in the right way," said Commissioner for Refugees and Migration Nataša Stanisavljević in January.
She stated that 2700 people are staying in asylum centers and reception centers across the country.
Sources: Beta/RSE/Deutsche Vela
