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Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s controversial plan to send asylum seekers rescued from the Mediterranean Sea to Albania has suffered a serious setback after Rome’s immigration court rejected the detention at sea of the first group of migrants. I was disappointed.
In a ruling, the Immigration Division of the Rome Tribunal said that 12 male migrants (originally from Bangladesh and Egypt) detained in Albania were arrested because it was “impossible to recognize the country of origin of the detainees”. “He has the right to be taken to Italy,” the court ruled. The people are considered to be a ‘safe country’. ”
The decision builds on a recent ruling by the European Court of Justice, which ruled earlier this month that countries cannot be considered “partly safe” for the purposes of determining deportation.
Italian officials confirmed that the 12 people will be taken to Italy for further processing.
The ruling is an embarrassing political setback for Meloni, who has touted plans to house asylum seekers in refugee centers in Albania as a way to fulfill his pledge to reduce the flow of irregular migrants from across the Mediterranean.
Her plan, and its promise to process asylum claims abroad, has attracted strong international attention, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen calling it an example from which lessons can be drawn. Britain’s Sir Keir Starmer also recently made the request to Meloni in Rome. Learn more.
Italy has so far spent an estimated 60 million euros building and equipping the Albanian center, which officially began operations on Wednesday with the arrival of the first 16 migrants.
Four of the first group selected from among hundreds recently rescued in the Mediterranean by Italian authorities were immediately deemed unfit for detention in Albania and taken to Italy. Two were believed to be minors, and two were for medical purposes. reason.
Meloni did not immediately comment on the court’s order to send the last 12 people to Italy, but members of his right-wing party, the Italian Brothers, slammed the decision, and one of the senators, Lucio Malan called it a “scandal.”
“Some politically charged magistrates have determined that no country of origin is safe,” Malan, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote of X. The repatriation of illegal immigrants is prohibited.
“They want to abolish Italy’s borders, but we will not allow that,” he added.
Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini’s party, the far-right Alliance, said the court order was “unacceptable”.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said at a press conference Friday afternoon that the government would appeal the ruling to a higher court.
Lawyer Lorenzo Trucco, president of the Immigration Law Research Association, praised Friday’s decision, saying “the rule of law triumphed over the government’s illegal actions” and exposing “the absurdities and injustices” in Italy and Albania. transaction.
An agreement signed last year between Meloni and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama allows Italy to build two migrant detention centers in Albania that can hold up to 3,000 migrants while Italian authorities process their asylum claims. Approved.
The agreement stipulated that the center would only house healthy adult men from countries that Italy had already deemed “safe” for their return. Those found to have a valid asylum claim will be granted asylum in Italy, while those deemed to be illegal immigrants will be returned to their country of origin through an expedited process.
In preparation for the center’s opening, Italy earlier this year designated 22 countries as safe to return to, including Bangladesh and Egypt, with some exceptions such as dissidents in Egypt and LGBT+ in Tunisia.
The EU court ruled that European law does not allow countries to be classified as partially safe, which shaped the Rome court’s verdict. However, new EU rules due to come into effect in 2026 will allow countries to be described as safe, with exceptions for some regions and some people.
Italy aims to make progress in implementing that part of the EU’s migration and asylum agreement, EU diplomats said. In a letter to bloc leaders this week, Ms von der Leyen pledged to bring forward revisions to the Safe Country Initiative until 2025.
Additional reporting by Paola Tamma in Brussels
