Italy will resume in the coming days he transfer of migrants to the controversial detention centers that it has built in Albanian territory to manage possible repatriations, after the justice system forced them to be emptied and, in response, the Government of Giorgia Meloni issued a decree law to protect them.
The ship of the Libra Navywhich was in charge of the first transfer of migrants to Albania three weeks ago, “will return to the high seas in the coming days,” sources from the Ministry of the Interior confirmed to EFE this Saturday.
According to local media, the call “Albania operation“It could begin again next Monday, when the ship is located 20 miles from the island of Lampedusa (south), the gateway for people crossing the Mediterranean bound for Italy.
For now, a specific date cannot be established, because “it will also depend on the state of the sea and the departures” of barges with migrants in the Mediterranean, official sources have indicated to Efe.
In any case, the ship will rescue those found in international waters and will transfer to Albania those who meet the requirements established in the agreement signed between Rome and Tirana, by which two centers were built in the Albanian towns of Shengjin and Gjader to alleviate the pressure on the Italian reception system.
The operation could restart three weeks after the first and failed transfer to Shengjin of the 16 first migrants from Egypt and Bangladesh: four of them had to be returned immediately because they were minors or “vulnerable” and two days later the Court of Rome did not validate the retention of the remaining twelve and ordered their return to Italy.
The judicial decision, based on a European ruling and which alleged that migrants sent to Albania They came from “unsafe countries”provoked the indignation of the Government, which approved a decree to stipulate by law the list of countries to which an immigrant does not have to escape and thus shield the controversial centers in Albania.
Meloni strategy
The Meloni strategywhich consisted of establishing a list of “safe countries” with a decree with the force of law used for reasons of “necessity or urgency”, was questioned by the Court of Bologna (northern Italy), which consulted the Court of Justice of the European Union (EU) considering that it violated European legislation.
But the far-right prime minister has decided to go ahead with the agreement, without waiting for a response, after stating on television that the request from the Bologna court “has been seen by many more as a propaganda pamphlet than a judicial document.”
The Meloni Government, which before the judicial clash received support for its plan for European countries and a favorable nod from the president of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyenis being highly criticized by the opposition.
latest scandal
The latest controversy in this regard arose this Friday, when local media revealed that housing almost 300 Italian police officers Those in charge of managing the centers will cost almost 9 million euros per year.
The accommodation cost amounts to 8.89 million euroswith a cost of 80 euros per day per police officer, and it is planned that the security forces will stay in two 4-star tourist complexes, also with swimming pools, beach, restaurant and recreational facilities.
The high cost of the plan has also been criticized, for which an expenditure of 800 million euros is expected over five years, while the Shëngjin and Gjader centers, they have been without migrants for two weeksalthough populated by almost 300 workers: translators, cleaners, medical and nursing staff, and police officers, according to the same sources.
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