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Bring them back to Italy! The court ordered to send back the first migrants relocated to Albania

At the beginning of the week, the Italian authorities had the first group of 16 migrants transferred to centers in Albania. During on-site checks, it was found that four were minors, so the authorities had them transferred to Italy. 12 men from Egypt and Bangladesh remained in Albania.

However, according to the agency ANSA, they will probably go through the process of their asylum application in Italy. The Rome court did not confirm the restrictions on the movement of the migrants in question on Friday and ordered their transfer to Italy.

“The two countries from which they come, namely Egypt and Bangladesh, are not safe even in view of the recent decision of the Court of Justice of the EU,” the court justified its decision. According to him, migrants sent to Albania “have the right to be transported to Italy”.

Photo: Vlasov Sulaj, CTK/AP

The first group of migrants transported from Italy to the Albanian port of Shëngjin leaves the ship, accompanied by members of the Italian security forces. (October 16, 2024)

In justifying the verdict, the Italian judiciary refers to the October decision of the Court of Justice of the EU in a case submitted to it for assessment by the Regional Court in Brno. In the case concerning the Czech Republic, the court decided that the country cannot be declared safe unless it is found that there is no danger in any part of its territory.

The agreement between Rome and Tirana envisages that it will be possible to place only male migrants whom the Italian Navy will help in international waters in the facility in Albania. At the same time, they must not have serious health problems, they must not come from countries that are not safe, and they must not belong to so-called vulnerable groups. If these conditions are not met, migrants must complete the administrative processing of their asylum application on Italian territory.

The verdict of the Roman court angered the Italian government parties, for whom the functioning of the centers in Albania is a key element of their migration policy. “The judicial left is helping the parliamentary left,” representatives of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party noted angrily. The head of the Italian Senate, Ignazio La Russa, who belongs to the “brothers”, expressed “concern” about the verdict. “Let the pro-immigration judges run in the elections, we will not be intimidated,” protested the League, another government party.

On the contrary, according to the opposition, the court’s decision shows that the centers in Albania do not solve any problems with migration and that it is just government propaganda. The opposition also criticizes the hundreds of millions of euros (billions of crowns), which it says the cabinet spent on the construction and operation of centers in Albania. To this, it would also be necessary to add the estimated annual costs of operating the centers, which amount to roughly 120 million euros (three billion crowns).