Luca has opened the “Trattoria Meloni” right next to a controversial asylum accommodation in Albania. He admires the Italian head of government.
Shengjin – In Albania, an admirer of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has opened the “Trattoria Meloni” – just a few steps away from Meloni’s favorite project, a reception center for asylum seekers. In the restaurant in the northern Albanian port city of Shengjin, visitors can order fish or seafood, surrounded by 70 painted portraits of Meloni. “When cuisine, art and politics come together, wonderful things can happen,” owner Gjergj Luca told the news agency afp.
Italy’s Prime Minister Meloni is a “very interesting personality”
The 58-year-old is the son of a well-known Albanian actor and is fascinated by Meloni’s “extraordinary” personality, he says. He hopes that she will visit his restaurant soon. He had the portraits of the party leader of the ultra-right Fratelli d’Italia, sometimes smiling, sometimes angry, created by the well-known Albanian artist Heliton Haliti.
Meloni is a “very interesting, strong” personality, said Haliti – “even if her political convictions are not mine.” In the structurally weak region, the two reception camps, which are due to open in the coming weeks, are welcome as workplaces.
Refugees are said to be detained by Italian authorities in fenced camps in Albania
Italy wants to accommodate refugees in the Balkans and then quickly deport them back to Africa. Migrants are to be held in the fully fenced camps while the Italian authorities decide on their asylum application. Meloni agreed this with her Albanian colleague Edi Rama in November 2023.
Migrants rescued from the Mediterranean by the Italian coast guard are to be divided up: women and children are to be brought to Italy, up to 3,000 men to camps in Albania. The human rights organization Amnesty International denounced an “automatic and possibly prolonged detention” of the refugees. (lm/afp)
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