After several attempts to house migrants at the controversial Italian reception center in Albania failed in court, the staff stationed there is now being slowly reduced. While Prime Minister Girogia Meloni’s government continues to fight for asylum procedures outside the EU, there are already ideas for another use for the camp.
Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is proposing to convert the facility into detention centers for Albanian convicts serving time in Italian prisons. This could help relieve pressure on Italy’s densely populated prisons.
“Meloni’s Albania strategy has failed”
“We must house in Albania the approximately 2,000 Albanian prisoners who are in Italy. “In this way we can improve the condition of overcrowded prisons without wasting taxpayers’ money,” Renzi said in an interview with the daily “La Stampa” on Friday. According to the leader of the centre-left opposition party Italia Viva, it is clear that the centers set up by Italy in Albania will never be operational. The Albania strategy of the right-wing government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has failed, Renzi said.
The government in Rome has recently failed twice in its plan to have decisions made on the asylum applications of migrants outside the EU. Courts have lifted the detention of migrants in the camps twice in a row after authorities stopped them in the Mediterranean on their way to Europe. They were transferred to Italy.
Italy is the first EU country to set up camps outside EU borders to process asylum applications in an accelerated procedure and in accordance with Italian law. Other European governments are closely following the ‘Albania model’ to learn lessons from it.
Abuse and psychotropic drugs in detention centers
Although this controversial plan is met with resistance, the Council of Europe gives the Italian return centers a very poor report. According to a report by the Anti-Torture Commission, migrants are abused and sedated with psychotropic drugs.
Members of the panel noted during a visit in April that there were “multiple cases of physical abuse and excessive use of force by police officers.” The administration of non-prescribed psychotropic medicines diluted in water is also denounced. In general, there are “poor material conditions” in the detention centers and medical care is poor.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
