The 43 migrants whose detention at a new Italian-run centre in Albania has been nixed by Rome's appeals court have been taken to the southern port city of Bari and transferred to the local Palese CARA hosting centre. The migrants, all adult men from Bangladesh and Egypt, reached the Puglia port from Albania on Saturday night.
They were welcomed by health personnel and security forces, as well as by activists from the Arci association who denounced the "flop of the Albanian model," the government's new fast-track processing scheme for asylum seekers.
The migrants belonged to the third group taken to Albania as part of the agreement between Rome and Tirana. The group originally included a total of 49 people who were intercepted south of Lampedusa and taken to Albania last Tuesday by the Cassiopea Navy vessel. Six were taken back to Italy earlier this week because they were minors or considered vulnerable.
The Rome appeals court on Friday night referred their case to the European Court of Justice to determine whether the countries of provenance of the migrants could be deemed safe, "when the substantial conditions for such a designation are not fulfilled for certain categories of people."
The scheme has so far been stymied by the courts. Italian judges also refused to validate the detention of the first two groups of asylum seekers (totalling 20 men) taken to Albania back in October and November, under the agreement between Rome and Tirana, referring their cases to the European Court of Justice—which had established on October 4th, 2022, that an applicant could not go through a fast-track procedure if their country of provenance was not deemed wholly safe.
The countries of origin in the cases, Bangladesh and Egypt, were not judged to be safe "over all of their territory." The government has tried to get around this hurdle with a measure listing 19 safe countries for repatriation, which included both Bangladesh and Egypt.
The government also stripped the immigration sections of ordinary courts—who took the first two decisions not to validate detentions in Albania—putting them up to appeals courts instead, one of which ruled not to validate the detention of the third batch of migrants on Friday night.
The European Court of Justice is set to rule on the Italian courts' referrals on February 25. On Saturday, interior ministry sources stated the government will continue to fight irregular immigration, proceeding with its plan to process asylum applications in Albania as part of creating regional hubs backed by European partners.
The protocol between Rome and Tirana for the fast-track processing of asylum requests at Italian-run centres in Albania "is the starting point for the creation of real regional hubs on which there is full agreement with European ministers," the sources noted. Under the government’s plan, when fully operational, the two Italian-run Albanian centres are set to process around 3,000 migrants monthly.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has hailed the accord as a possible model for other countries, and there have been several expressions of interest. Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the "fight against illegal immigration can't stop," emphasizing the need to promote regular immigration and oppose illegal migration.
Tajani stated, "We are convinced we are right and so we are moving forward," alluding to the government's continued resolve. Meanwhile, Premier Giorgia Meloni's right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party MP Sara Kelany cast the appeals court’s ruling as "absurd, unjustified and able to create an impasse" in the management of irregular migration flows.
She leveled accusations against magistrates of promoting "political ideologies" and blocking what she referred to as a "model appreciated by all of Europe." The centre-left opposition has also criticized the government's scheme, with members calling it an expensive and ineffective propaganda stunt.
Chiara Appendino, the deputy president of the populist Five-Star Movement (M5S), remarked on the government's migration policies, saying they "aren't working because, in January, we had over 3,000 arrivals." She pointed out troubling details surrounding the recent return of detainees such as Libyan judicial police commander Najeem Osema Almasri Habish, who was released back to Libya after facing arrest on crimes against humanity charges.
Ngo's have long alleged Italy's complicity with abuses seen within Libyan detention camps, tied to immigration deals instituted since 2017. "Managing migration policies is serious business, but the government is promoting propaganda," said Ubaldo Pagano, a Democratic Party lawmaker who witnessed the migrant return on Saturday.
Pagano concluded, "We are here to witness this umpteenth failure and to take responsibility for human beings who are uselessly transported between Italy and Albania, even separated from family members," criticizing the overall government approach as a national shame.