Two Italian-run centres opened last
year in Albania for the fast-track processing of asylum seekers
don't need to be turned into repatriation centres (CPRs) to keep
them operational because one already exists within a facility,
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said Monday in Venice.
The migration centres in Albania "can't become CPRs because one
already exists inside a multipurpose facility", noted
Piantedosi.
"Therefore we only need to activate it as soon as possible given
the theme of recuperating places available in CPRs on the
national territory", added the interior minister in relation to
the new EU Pact on Migration and Asylum which is set to come
into force by mid-2026.
"That centre will also maintain the other functions for which it
was originally intended", added the minister regarding the
processing of asylum requests in a third country, since it was
originally "multipurpose".
The implementation of a protocol between Rome and Tirana for the
fast-track processing of asylum seekers at the two facilities
has so far been stymied by Italy's courts.
The two centres of Shengjin and Gjader, which were opened last
October, are currently empty after Italian courts failed to
validate the detention of the first three groups of migrants
taken there in October, November and January.
Meanwhile in a note issued on Monday, the leader of the largest
opposition member, the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) Elly
Schlein, said Piantedosi had sanctioned the end of the two
centres in Albania "which have cost Italians nearly one billion
euros"
The minister "certified the complete failure of the Albania
model", said the note, adding that Piantedosi and Premier
Giorgia Meloni should stop their plan as "current European
legislation does not allow to delocalize a repatriation centre
to a third country".
"Moreover, the protocol provides for only a small part of the
Albanian centres to be used as CPRs so the protocol with Albania
and the law should be revised in order to use them as CPRs",
said Schlein in the statement.
However later on Monday Piantedosi said the centres in Albania
comply by European rules.
"According to European regulations, Italy has the obligation of
being ready by June 2026 to have about 8,000 places available as
a country of first entry to process accelerated procedures",
explained the interior minister, adding that the timing for the
centres in Albania to become operational will be dictated "in
the coming months" by the solution of the related judicial
cases.
The European Court of Justice began hearing the case on the
Italy-Albania protocol last month.
The Luxembourg judges need to examine referrals filed by Italian
courts which have yet to recognise the legitimacy of detentions
ordered against migrants rescued in the Mediterranean and
transferred to the other side of the Adriatic because they come
from countries considered safe by the Italian government, namely
Egypt and Bangladesh.
The EU Court is conducting the examination in an accelerated
manner, recognising the importance of the issue, and a ruling is
expected before the summer.
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