Italian asylum center in Albania: The opening failed

The newly opened asylum center is located in northern Albania, almost 180 kilometers from the Italian coast. Boat refugees who are picked up by the Italian coast guard in international waters will be accommodated here while their asylum applications are examined.

In theory, the process goes like this: Migrants are taken by boat to the Albanian mainland in Shengjin and transferred to a cordoned-off port area. Their personal details, their origin and their state of health are recorded there. Shortly afterwards they are taken a few kilometers inland to Gjader, where Italian officials examine and decide on their asylum applications in a fast-track reception center.

Italy wants to be the first country in the European Union to test the so-called third country model: refugees are accommodated in a third country outside the EU – in this specific case in Albania. Your asylum application will be examined there. If the Italians agree to the application, the person travels to Italy. Otherwise she will be taken to her home country or a safe third country.

First failure of the pilot project

However, the experiment does not go as planned. Last week, for the first time, sixteen migrants who wanted to reach Italy across the Mediterranean were picked up by an Italian navy ship and taken to Albania.

Four of them were brought back to Italy after their arrival because they were minors or had significant health problems. A little later, a court in Rome declared the internment of the remaining twelve migrants in the asylum center outside the EU to be inadmissible.

The reason: According to current law, only migrants from so-called safe third countries may be held in the Albanian asylum center. For people with little prospect of asylum, EU law provides for an accelerated border procedure that allows them to be detained. It is expected that these cases can be resolved quickly and that returns can be organized quickly. However, for all other migrants there is no legal basis for detaining them in prison-like conditions.

The asylum center in northern Albania is a closed camp. No migrant can freely enter or leave the center. Italian law applies on the premises and the facility is operated by Italian staff. Albanian authorities are only responsible for external surveillance of the centers.

In last week’s case, an Italian court refused to classify the remaining 12 migrants’ countries of origin – Egypt and Bangladesh – as safe third countries. Unlike Italy, the EU rates these countries as “not safe”. And European law takes precedence. The court therefore decided that the twelve migrants must go through a regular asylum procedure in Italy.

On Saturday afternoon, the twelve migrants were brought to Italy on an Italian coast guard ship, where a final decision will now be made on their asylum applications. As long as these procedures continue, the men will remain in Italy – which is exactly what Prime Minister Meloni wanted to prevent when she signed the asylum agreement with Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama in Rome in November 2023.

There were already hurdles on the way to opening

The new course in migration policy is proving to be far more difficult than expected. Even the original opening date of the end of May was unrealistic early on, although around 5,000 square meters were available for the asylum center on the site of the former military base in Gjader.

Satellite images show that the first construction activities only began at the end of March 2024. The opening was delayed several times due to technical and organizational difficulties. After a delay of five months, the center finally went into operation in October.

The initial plan was to accommodate up to 36,000 people per year in the asylum center in Albania. But the center in Gjader is currently empty again. In order to implement the Albania model, the Italian government has now adapted the legal basis in an expedited procedure. Whether these adjustments will protect the model from further legal challenges remains to be seen.