As most European nations scramble to find solutions for the scourge of unchecked mass migration, Italy has found a novel way to deal with illegals arriving by boat, by making an agreement with Balkan country Albania to hold adult males there in camps while their asylum requests are processed.
Yesterday, the first group of migrants was shipped to Albania, signaling the success of the plan, as many other EU countries want to jump in and implement similar ideas – but it won’t be in Albania, Prime Minister Edy Rama has already made it clear.
Associated Press reported:
“A naval ship departed from the island of Lampedusa with 16 men — 10 from Bangladesh and six from Egypt — who were rescued at sea after departing from Libya. The ship is expected to arrive Wednesday morning, a ministry spokesman said.
Premier Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government on Friday formally opened the two centers in Albania where Italy plans to process thousands of male migrants requesting asylum after being intercepted in international waters while trying to cross to Europe.”
The holding centers will accommodate up to 400 migrants initially, increasing this amount to 880 in a few weeks.
Only adult males will be held in Albania, while women, children, older people, ill persons or victims of torture will be accommodated in Italy.
In this plan, families will not be separated.
“The five-year deal was endorsed last year by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as an example of “out-of-box thinking” in tackling the migration issue, but human rights groups say it sets a dangerous precedent.”
The U.N. refugee agency will supervise the first three months to ‘safeguard the rights and dignity of those subject to it’.
“The agreement, signed last year, calls for Albania to house up to 3,000 male migrants while Italy fast-tracks their asylum claims. The migrants will retain their right under international and EU law to apply for asylum in Italy and have their claims processed there.”
Italy will pay $730 million over five years for the program in Albania.
The centers will be run by Rome under Italian jurisdiction, while Albanian guards will provide external security.
Meanwhile, some unimaginative governments want to just copy/paste the Italian idea, as is the case of the very unpopular German coalition.
But Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has already ruled out processing migrants from Germany in his country, despite Berlin’s interest in the idea.
Rama said that Germany must ‘find another partner’ to implement the scheme.
Euronews reported:
“’If Germany finds another partner in the region, it would be nice to see if that works in the same way’, Rama said ahead of the Western Balkans Conference in Berlin on Monday.
Under an agreement with Italy, Albania has agreed to host migrants intercepted at sea by Italian authorities near its port in the Adriatic seaside town of Shengjin. The facilities, which began working last Friday and can accommodate up to 3,000 people, are staffed by Italian personnel who will process individual asylum claims.”
Rama explained that the deal was a ‘one-off agreement exclusive to Italy’, because of the ‘unconditional love’ for the neighbors that received thousands of Albanians after the end of the Soviet Union in the 90’s.
Failing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is hesitant to endorse the idea, but multiple German would support Berlin’s own version of the agreement.
Even opposition leader Frederich Merz refers to the agreement between Italy and Albania as a ‘model’.
Rama is cautious and say that ‘models have to be tested’.
“The Albanian leader added that the six Western Balkan states, including Bosnia and Serbia, would be ideal candidates for externally processing asylum applications. These states are surrounded by EU member states but are not bound by the bloc’s asylum law.
Rama also criticized EU countries for not having a common refugee policy, saying that fears about migration were being stoked in European nation-states to gain more votes.”
Last month Germany enacted temporary controls on its borders to counter the increasing popularity of the rightwing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, who spouses a hardline stance on migration.
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