TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania’s prime minister said Tuesday that Tirana had rejected many requests from other European Union countries to take in thousands of asylum seekers, but made an exception for Italy.
A n Italian naval ship They were expected to dock at the Albanian port of Shengjin with the first group of 16 migrants intercepted in international waters and whose asylum claims will be processed at two centers in Albania instead of Italy. a five-year agreement between the two countries.
Rama repeated this during a speech in Luxembourg at an EU conference no other country to operate asylum centers in Albania.
He said Albania felt an expression of gratitude for the tens of thousands of Albanians welcomed by Italy when communism fell in 1991, or the support provided by Rome during the economic turmoil in 1997 and in the aftermath of the 2019 earthquake.
The Italian navy ship Libra left the port of Lampedusa in southern Italy on Monday with 16 men – 10 from Bangladesh and six from Egypt – who the Italian government said were rescued at sea after leaving Libya.
The number of migrants reaching Italy along the Central Mediterranean route from North Africa has fallen by 61% in 2024 compared to 2023. According to the Italian Ministry of the Interior, 52,425 migrants have arrived in Italy by sea this year as of October 11, compared to 138,947 in the same period last year.
Under a five-year deal signed by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Rama last November, up to 3,000 migrants picked up by the Italian coast guard in international waters every month will be hosted in Albania. They will first be screened on board the rescue ships before being sent to Albania for further screening.
The first center in Shengjin, 66 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of the capital Tirana, will be used for screening new arrivals and the other facility, about 22 kilometers (14 miles) to the east near the former military airport in Gjader, will provide shelter to migrants during the processing of their asylum application.
Italy has agreed to welcome those granted asylum. Those whose applications are rejected risk direct deportation from Albania.
The controversial agreement to outsource the housing of asylum seekers to a non-EU member state has been praised by some countries which, like Italy, are faced with a heavy refugee burden.
The agreement was ratified by the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen as an example of “out-of-box thinking” in tackling the issue of migration to the EU, but has been human rights groups as setting a dangerous precedent.
Meloni and her right-wing allies have long demanded that European countries share a greater share of the migration burden. She has presented the Albania Treaty as an innovative solution to a problem that has been bothering the EU for years.
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