Four of the sixteen migrants deported to Albania are returning to Italy because they are minors and vulnerable

Four of the 16 asylum seekers transferred to Albania from the Italian island of Lampedusa this week will return to Italy on the same military ship, as two are minors and two other people have been declared vulnerable after an initial assessment.

According to news agency AdnKronos, these four people will soon disembark in Brindisi, in eastern Italy. The agreement stipulates that only non-vulnerable adult males coming from countries considered safe can be transferred to the two centers on Albanian territory. Authorities identified the 16 migrants as Egyptians and Bangladeshis.

Migration policy is one of the key issues that will focus on the meeting of EU heads of state and government, for which Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called for a first meeting with other leaders considered like-minded. and in the presence of the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen.

Meloni assured this Wednesday in statements to the press in Brussels that “many countries are respecting Italy’s migration policy”. The Italian government has launched two migrant detention centers in Albania, following a controversial deal with the Balkan country that outsources to Albanian soil the management of asylum applications and the possible repatriation of people rescued in the Mediterranean Sea and trying to reach Italy.

Migrants rescued by Italian authorities are subject to health and identification checks upon arrival to then verify that they comply with the requirements: They come from safe, male and non-vulnerable countries, as reported by sources from the Italian Ministry of the Interior, which is responsible for the initiative.

Scholz says migrant centers outside the EU are “not the real solution”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday that migrant centers from outside the EU, such as those in Italy on Albanian territory, “are not the real solution for a country as big as Germany.”