ROME (AP) — Italy’s far-right-led government on Friday approved a decree that expands the use of Albanian fast-track asylum processing centers to include “repatriation” hubs, in line with a recent EU proposal.
Under the new decree, the two centers in Albania — originally aimed at processing non-vulnerable migrants rescued in international waters — will now also house migrants who arrived in Italy, had their asylum request rejected and received a deportation order.
The Albanian centers have remained substantially inactive since their opening in October, due to legal hurdles and amid wide opposition from human rights associations, who believe they violate international laws and put migrants’ rights at risk.
The project — which has cost nearly 800 million euros over a five-year investment — has been a disappointment for the conservative government led by Premier Giorgia Meloni.
After longer than expected construction work, the first three groups of migrants transferred there in October, November and January were sent back to Italy only a few hours later, after Italian magistrates refused to validate their detention in the non-EU country.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said Friday in a news conference that the new decree didn’t change the bulk of the agreement with Albania, but added new functions for the centers.
“The decree changes the law that ratifies the protocol with Albania, but doesn’t change its content, making it possible to transfer to the already existing (repatriation) center of Gjader also migrants coming from Italy,” Piantedosi explained.
“That would allow us to immediately reactivate that center so that it won’t lose its functions,” he added.
The Italian move, which offers Meloni a new opportunity to relaunch the costly Albanian centers, follows a European Commission proposal unveiled in March to open new “return hubs” to be set up in third countries for rejected asylum-seekers.
Only 20% of people with a deportation order are effectively removed from EU territory, according to the European Commission, which presented the “European System for Returns” as a potential solution.
The proposal aims to set a standard for all 27 members of the bloc and allow national authorities from one country to enforce the deportation order issued by another. Such rules were missing from the EU’s migration and asylum pact approved last year.
The Italian government is also waiting for a ruling by the European Court of Justice, expected this summer, which could enable the Albanian centers to operate as originally intended.
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