An Italian Navy ship arrived in Albania this Wednesday with the 16 first deported migrants that Italy will admit to identification centers and retention that Rome raised in this Balkan country, continuing with its controversial system of externalizing migratory reception outside the European Union (EU).
The migrants, who tried to reach Italian soil through the central Mediterranean, are 10 people from Bangladesh and others 6 of Egypt. They are expected to undergo health and identification checks at the port of arrival in the town of Schenhgjin, where a center is active to manage arrivals.
After this first process, the migrants will be transferred to the reception camp of Gjadera few dozen kilometers away, local Italian media reported.
These two facilities, managed and controlled by the Italian authorities themselvesare the result of an agreement between Rome and Tirana that outsources to Albanian territory the management of asylum applications and the possible repatriation of people rescued in Mediterranean waters who seek to reach Italy.
Both centers are located operational since last weekwhen the Italian Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, announced that the transfer of “irregular immigrants from North Africa” would begin as soon as possible and that Europe has set the goal of “strengthening the expulsion system.”
Criticisms of Meloni
Italian opposition forces such as the Democratic Party or More Europe condemned this Wednesday the transfer of migrants from Italy to Albania.
“Meloni, tell us how much this trip cost,” said Elly Schlein, leader of the center-left Democratic Party, the main opposition force, about the transfer of the first group of 16 migrants that arrived this morning in Albania.
In a newspaper interview Corriere della SeraSchlein assured that the 800 million euros provided for this system “They could have been allocated to public health,” for issues such as “shortening waiting lists, but instead they throw them away to deport migrants, trampling on their rights.”
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