Dozens of Italian police and social workers deployed by Italy’s far-right government to Albanian migrant centers have returned home, after it emerged that the facilities, praised by the right as a model for reducing refugee arrivals, have been empty for weeks.
Just over a month after the publicized opening of Albania’s multimillion-dollar detention centers for asylum seekers, which were supposed to receive up to 3,000 people a month, more than 50 police officers were transferred back to Italy two weeks ago, while dozens of Social workers have left over the weekend, their presence in Albania being considered “unnecessary”.
Since their opening on October 11, only 24 asylum seekers have been sent to the centers in Albania, with the aim of repatriating them to their countries of origin. Five spent less than 12 hours in a detention center, while the rest stayed just over 48 hours.
They were all transferred to Italy after Italian judges deemed it illegal to detain them in Albania before repatriating them to countries, such as Bangladesh and Egypt, considered “safe” by Rome.
In this way, the judges confirmed a ruling of October 4 of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU), according to which a country not belonging to the bloc could not be declared safe unless its entire territory was considered safe.
As a consequence, the centers, presented by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, as a new model of how to establish processing and detention centers for asylum seekers outside the EU, have been empty for more than a month.
At a time when the Government is struggling to balance the budget, cutting funds for education, health and social security, opposition parties have described the plan, which will cost around €1bn over five years, as a “financial disaster”. .
“Mission accomplished,” said Riccardo Magi, president of the center-left Più Europa (More Europe) party. “The Government has been successful in the repatriation effort. Immigrants? No, Italian workers sent to Albania, who will return home at the weekend. The Government first squandered a huge sum of public funds, then, with the centers empty, brought some police personnel back to Italy, and now even social workers are returning home. “It is a historic failure.”
The plan has sparked a dispute between the government and judges, accused by far-right parties of obstructing the project.
Nicola Gratteri, Naples’ chief prosecutor and one of Italy’s most authoritative magistrates, said in a television interview this week: “We must stop attacking magistrates just because we don’t like a decision. I don’t want to make a political judgment, but I say that at the moment in Albania there are 250 law enforcement officers who barely do anything. It is a waste to keep 250 police officers on a mission in Albania, so I think they should be returned to Italy, where we are struggling with staff shortages for thousands of police officers.”
The Government has stated that the centers in Albania “will remain open and operational” and that the transfers to Italy have been made based on staffing needs.
However, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s credibility is at stake after she made immigration a central issue of her election campaign. In the past, he criticized his predecessors for spending public money managing the migration crisis. The sea transport on an Italian military ship of just eight men who arrived in Albania over a weekend in mid-November cost 250,000 euros, more than 31,000 euros per asylum seeker on board.
Elisabetta Piccolotti, deputy of the Alliance of Greens and Left party, declared: “The Government has failed knowing that it would fail. They have spent a mountain of money and played with people’s rights. “This will go down in history as a shameful page for our country.”
#Meloni #calls #police #workers #empty #migrant #centers #Albania #applauded
