Albania's interior minister denied that the country would “sell even a piece of Albania” to Italy.
Albanian On Wednesday, the Constitutional Court suspended the ratification of the refugee agreement between Italy and Albania, reports news agency AP. Chief Justice of the Court Olta Zacaj said the court will hold a public hearing on January 18. Its purpose is to determine whether the agreement violates the Albanian constitution.
The court took the agreement into consideration at the opposition's request before the Albanian parliament could start ratifying the agreement.
Italian national conservative prime minister Giorgia Meloni and the Prime Minister representing the Socialist Party of Albania Edi Rama signed an agreement at the beginning of November according to which two migrant reception centers will be built in Albania with Italian money.
A total of three thousand immigrants or refugees who arrived in Italy are planned to be housed in the centers. Thanks to the fast processing, the centers are calculated to process the applications of 36,000 people aspiring to Italy per year. According to the agreement, minors, pregnant women or asylum seekers defined as vulnerable would not be brought to the centers in Albania.
A total of 153,000 migrants or refugees have come to Italy this year, which is almost double the number compared to last year.
Albanian Minister of the Interior Taulant Balla defended the agreement in an interview with news agency AFP on Wednesday, saying that “we are not selling a piece of Albanian land” to Italy.
“We offer land to Italy in the same way as land is given to the embassy,” Balla compared.
In addition to the Albanian opposition, refugee and human rights organizations have criticized the Italian-Albanian agreement. Prime Minister Rama's Socialist Party has 74 seats in Albania's 140-seat parliament.
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