Italy wants to return rescued boat migrants to Albania, but the question is whether that is possible

The deal includes receiving three thousand people on boats, but Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni hopes that this number will eventually rise to 36 thousand annually. Meloni announced the migration agreement with her Albanian counterpart Edi Rama on Monday. These are people who do not reach the Italian mainland, but are rescued from the sea by the Italian Coast Guard.

This does not matter for their legal status, says Annick Bijnenberg, associate professor of international and European law at Radboud University in Nijmegen. “Once they reach an Italian boat, they are under Italian jurisdiction.”

The boat refugees are taken directly to Albania, where they must wait for their asylum procedures. Vulnerable people, such as minors or pregnant women, “usually” go to Italy. Also, refugees taken by non-governmental organizations from the sea are not included in this agreement.

The two centers are scheduled to open in northwestern Albania in the spring of next year. “This could become a model for cooperation between EU countries and non-EU countries in combating migration,” Meloni said in an interview with the Italian newspaper on Tuesday. Prophet.

“Legal feasibility is questionable”

Meloni and Prime Minister Rutte were among the pioneers of the agreement concluded by the European Union with Tunisia. The fact that the Italian Prime Minister is now concluding bilateral agreements may go wrong in Brussels. According to the Italian newspaper printing The European Commission was completely caught off guard by the deal and Meloni is said to have only informed the Commission a few hours before the public announcement.

Politicians in several European countries had previously proposed moving migrants outside the European Union. The Commission had previously criticized the Danish law allowing migrants to be sent to Rwanda. European Commissioner Ylva Johansson (Home Affairs) said in 2021 that outsourcing asylum procedures to a non-EU country was “not possible under existing EU rules or under the proposals for the new Migration Charter”. Hence Italy also lacks the exceptional position on immigration policy negotiated by Denmark.

According to Bignenberg, transferring migrants to other countries is theoretically possible. But there are many legal obligations that must be met. The question is who is responsible: “Italy says it will exercise jurisdiction over the centres, but Albania is responsible for security,” Binnenburg said.

Different degrees of immigrants

While the legal feasibility depends on the conditions prevailing in Albanian reception centres. Albania has little experience receiving large numbers of migrants. Italy will soon be obligated to provide migrants with adequate health care, food and space. Moreover, Italy cannot force people to stay for a long time in a place they never chose.

Refugees brought to Albania must wait for asylum procedures there. “There must be decent asylum procedures, with all the safeguards associated with them,” says Pennenberg. “It may take some time and you can’t lock people up for a longer period of time.”

Italian lawyer and immigration expert Maurizio Figlio told Reuters that since only refugees who cannot reach the Italian mainland are brought to Albania, Italian lawyer and immigration expert Maurizio Figlio fears the emergence of migrants with a “lower” status than others.

Pennenberg acknowledges the existence of discrimination, but notes that this problem presents itself now as well. For example, they are often returned to Libya by the Libyan Coast Guard. Refugees rescued by NGOs end up in Italy. This is also a form of arbitrariness.