Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s plans to build reception centers for non-EU boat people in Albania have been postponed indefinitely.
The opening, originally scheduled for May 20 at the latest, was postponed due to scheduling issues, as the government confirmed in Rome on Wednesday. A new date was not announced.
According to previous information from the daily newspaper ‘La Repubblica’, the camps, which can accommodate up to 36,000 people per year, can now not be opened until November at the earliest. The document was based on information from the Ministry of Defense. This has not been confirmed.
Is Meloni’s election promise wavering?
The relatively poor Mediterranean country of Albania is not part of the EU, but has been a candidate for membership for ten years. Italy, in turn, is one of the countries particularly affected by the flow of refugees from Africa to Europe across the Mediterranean.
Meloni – president of the right-wing Fratelli d’Italia party – took office in the autumn of 2022 with a promise to significantly reduce the number. However, last year almost 158,000 newcomers were counted – more than 50,000 more than in 2022. This year there have been almost 18,000 so far.
The Albania Pact should relieve Italy
The plan now is to take boat people directly to two reception centers in Albania: to the port city of Shengjin on the Adriatic Sea and to Gjader, a few kilometers inland. Asylum claims should be examined in Italian-run centers and faster deportations made possible. The parliaments of both countries approved the corresponding agreement despite some criticism.
The centers are also expressly not intended for migrants arriving on the Italian coast by boat or picked up by private aid organizations – but only for those taken on board by Italian authorities in international waters. Italy will bear all “direct and indirect” costs. 675 million euros are planned for the next ten years, of which 142 million euros this year.
Source: Krone
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