Successful Agreement Between Italy and Albania Bears Fruit, as Two Centers in the Eastern European Country Are Ready To Receive, Screen and Accommodate Intercepted Illegals
All over Europe, political leaders are scrambling to find ways to cope with the tragic fallout from a decade of failed, crippling globalist EU policies, especially regarding the unchecked mass migration that is wrecking the social tissue of these nations.
Lately, all eyes have converged on Italy, where conservative Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been quite successful in tackling this problem, diminishing the arrivals by over 60% and finding innovative ways to address the illegal arrivals by boat.
Yesterday (11), Italy’s government formally opened two centers in Albania where it will ‘process’ male migrants who are intercepted in international waters.
Associated Press reported:
“Italian Ambassador to Albania Fabrizio Bucci said the two centers are ready to process migrants but could not say when the first ones would arrive. “As of today, the two centers are ready and operational,” Bucci told journalists at the port of Shengjin on Albania’s Adriatic coast where the migrants will land.”
The Albanian centers can accommodate up to 400 illegal migrants, and are reportedly expected to expand up to 880 in a few weeks.
“The number of people reaching Italy along the central Mediterranean migration route from North Africa has fallen by 61% in 2024 from 2023. According to the Italian Interior Ministry, as of Oct. 11, 52,425 migrants have arrived in Italy by sea this year, compared to 138,947 by the same date last year.
Under a five-year deal signed last November by Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and her Albanian counterpart, Edi Rama, up to 3,000 migrants picked up by the Italian coast guard in international waters each month will be sheltered in Albania. They will be screened initially on board the ships that rescue them before being sent to Albania for further screening.”
The two facilities will cost Italy $730 million over five years. They will be under Italian jurisdiction, with Albanian guards providing external security.
The center in Shengjin, 40 miles northwest of the capital, Tirana, will be used for screening newcomers. The Gjader center, 14 miles east, will accommodate migrants during the processing of their asylum requests.
“The ambassador said that Gjader was the challenge which caused all the delay. Some 7,000 cement pillars went deep into the ground to consolidate the base, following “the same Venice-style” anti-seismic and anti-flooding construction standard, according to Bucci, adding that the center has independence of water supply with two wells and a separate power line. It has all the Italian standards in construction and the most updated level of security and living standards like all the migrants’ camps in Italy, according to Bucci.”
The Gjader center has capacity for 3,000 beds. It will probably never be at full occupancy, unless the flow of migrants increases tremendously.
The centers will only house adult men, who make up 74% of migrants arriving in Italy. Women, children, the elderly and those who are ill – or victims of torture – will be accommodated in Italy. Families will not be separated.
“While in Albania, the migrants will retain their right under international and European Union law to apply for asylum in Italy and have their claims processed there. Each claim is expected to take a maximum of 28 days, including any appeal case, to process. Italy has agreed to welcome those who are granted asylum. Those whose applications are rejected face deportation directly from Albania.”
The Italian agreement with Albanian was endorsed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as an example of “out-of-box thinking”, but has been heavily criticized by by human rights groups as ‘setting a dangerous precedent’.
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