European Union lawmakers on Wednesday criticised the migration agreement between Italy and Albania, saying it contradicts EU values and violates migrants’ rights.
During a plenary session of the European Parliament, several MEPs emphasised that Italy’s decision to conclude an agreement with a third country undermines the EU’s common migration policy. Spanish MEP Estrella Galan Perez said:
The agreement between Italy and Albania violates access to the right to asylum and international law and breaches the principle of non-reform on these innovative solutions.
Stressing that sending refugees and migrants to neighbouring countries is “illegal, immoral and inhumane,” Perez also added:
Building prisons for refugees in Europe is barbaric.
Similarly, Ana Catarina Mendes of the S&D party (Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament) said:
The Albania solution from Italy is worrying, but it also reminds us we must not remain silent.
Arguing that such agreements weaken European security, French MEP Fabienne Keller said:
I am strongly opposed to so-called innovative solutions such as the externalisation of return policies to centres that are far away from our countries.
Italian MEP Cecilia Strada also emphasised that the deal with Tirana was a “threat to human rights” and harmful to the European economy.
Italy-Albania migration deal
The decision dealt the first blow to a five-year deal between Rome and Tirana, under which two new detention centres in Albania are to take in 3,000 migrants a month who are picked up by the Italian coastguard in international waters.
Meanwhile, the migrants could be considered for asylum in Italy or sent back to their home countries if their applications are rejected.
The deal has attracted interest from a number of countries including Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany, despite Albania insisting it applies exclusively to Italy. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in a letter circulated to the media last week, expressed her potential support for the scheme, suggesting that EU member states should develop “innovative solutions” to cope with the migration problem.
On Saturday, the Italian government was forced to return 12 migrants who had previously been taken to new Italian migrant reception centres in Albania, following a court ruling in Rome. The court said the countries of origin of these migrants – Bangladesh and Egypt – were “unsafe.” The judges ruled that the men were at risk of violence if repatriated to their countries of origin, so could not be deported. This was a blow to the migration agreement, in which other EU countries have also shown interest.
Following the Rome court ruling, the Italian opposition said the scheme was against the law and should be cancelled.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni convened her cabinet on Monday to find a legislative solution to the situation. Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party argues that government decisions should take precedence over court decisions. Meloni said the court’s decision to return the migrants was “biased.”
