Two Italian camps for asylum seekers in Albania, the beast is currently empty. But the right-wing government George Meloni he does not agree with the decision of the Roman court to make it more difficult to transfer migrants to Albania, he writes Deutsche says.
The right-wing coalition in Rome deliberated on Monday (October 21st) on how to enable the smooth operation of two Italian-funded reception centers for asylum seekers in Albania.
According to the agreement with Albania, refugees who come across the sea to Italy are first accommodated in camps in Albania. There, the validity of their request for asylum in Italy is checked.
If the request is rejected, the refugees will be returned to the country they came from, without even setting foot on Italian soil.
The court messed up the government's accounts
No sooner had the deal begun to operate than it hit a major roadblock. On Friday (October 18), the court in Rome ruled that twelve asylum seekers, originally from Egypt and Bangladesh, should immediately return to Italy from Albania because they come from countries that are on the list of unsafe countries.
The court referred to a judgment of the European Court that labeled these countries as such. In the European Union, there is no common list of unsafe countries, the member states determine them independently.
Already on Saturday, the Italian Coast Guard transferred these applicants from Albania to the Italian port of Bari.
The Italian list contains 21 unsafe countries. After the court decision, the Government of Đorđe Meloni announced the decision to urgently transfer the authority for forming the list from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Cabinet of the Prime Minister.
In addition, an appeal against the judgment of the Italian court was announced. The list that was announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in an ordinary administrative act did not have the legal weight that the Government's decree now has, so it will be more difficult for the courts in the future to challenge it based on the decisions of some European courts.
Meloni is fighting for the camps in Albania
Italy is the first member of the European Union that wants to decide on asylum requests outside the territory of the EU. Now, with a decree in which "unsafe countries" are listed - and three have been crossed off the list - Djordja Meloni wants to enable the continued functioning of the agreement with Tirana at any cost.
Currently, reception centers in Albania are empty again. It is planned that up to 36.000 applicants for asylum will wait for a decision in them every year.
Nigeria, Cameroon and Colombia have been removed from the list of unsafe countries, but Egypt and Bangladesh are still on it.
Although the number of refugees arriving on Italian shores has decreased in recent years, over 50.000 people have already arrived in the country this year. Some were not so lucky and drowned.
Some members of the European Union have already announced that they are considering adopting the "Albanian model", while the European Commission, through a spokeswoman, only issues a statement that it is in contact with the Italian authorities.
Admittedly, the agreement between Italy and Albania is in the domain of national law, but such agreements must not violate the legal regulations of the European Union.
"we'll continue"
Đorđa Meloni announced on the X platform: "As long as we have the support of citizens, we will continue to work decisively and with our heads held high to achieve our program."
The recent summit of the heads of state and government of the European Union showed that the idea advocated by Meloni - the relocation of asylum camps to countries outside the borders of the EU - has found fertile ground.
On the other hand, Italy has already earmarked 670 million euros for the construction of camps in Albania and their operation for the next five years.
However, figures that cause astonishment have dawned on the Italian public. In the last few days, 2.200 migrants arrived in Italy, and only 16 arrived in Albania. The ratio of those numbers would have to change quickly, otherwise the Italian government will have a problem justifying the investments.
Critics have questioned why Meloni did not first invest in improving the efficiency of the asylum procedure in Italy itself.
The Government's current reaction will once again intensify the debate on the relationship between politics and the judiciary. Meloni and some of her ministers, in their initial reactions, marked the verdict as an inadequate interference of the judiciary in political life, accusing the judges of party bias.
President Sergio Mattarella called on both parties to "finally start talking" and added that "institutions belong to everyone and everyone should be able to recognize themselves in them."
It was an unusual and quick reaction of the normally restrained president.
Between "smart" and "rigid" politics
In the commentary of the Swiss daily Noja Zircher Zeitung, the moves of Đorđe Meloni are welcomed and a whole series of similar moves of other European countries is listed.
Thus, the Netherlands and Poland announced the temporary suspension of European asylum regulations, Lithuania legalized the forced return of refugees from Belarus, Finland no longer accepts requests for asylum at the border with Russia, Germany introduced border controls despite the Schengen Agreement.
The commentary states that, faced with the practice of the European Court, national governments now have three options.
They can ignore judgments from the European level, they can leave the judicial system of the European Union, like Great Britain. "The third variant is a partial review of the European asylum laws, which must be adapted to the needs of the member states."
On the other hand, the Munich newspaper Zidoječe zeitung already in the title of the article "The law, it's me" has a significantly different attitude about the moves of the Italian Prime Minister.
The paper notes that experts believe it is questionable whether it is enough "for the government to translate its understanding of rights into a decree or law - the contrast with European justice still exists, and it is even higher in Italy than the domestic one".
In addition, it is stated that now the judges who made this decision are under the scrutiny of the political bloc led by Meloni. Giorgia Meloni could even initiate early elections, as polls supposedly give her an advantage, and thus try to "get a new strong mandate from the people for her rigid asylum policy."
