Albania’s prime minister said on Tuesday that Tirana has turned down many requests from other European Union countries to take in thousands of asylum seekers but made an exception for Italy.
An Italian navy ship is expected to dock in the port of Shengjin with the first group of 16 migrants who were intercepted in international waters and whose asylum applications will be processed in two centres in Albania instead of in Italy, under a five-year agreement between the two countries.
Premier Edi Rama, speaking at an EU conference in Luxembourg, repeated that no other country will be able to operate asylum centres in Albania.
He said Albania is grateful that tens of thousands of Albanians were welcomed by Italy when Communism fell in 1991, and for support extended by Rome during the economic turmoil of 1997 and in the aftermath of the 2019 earthquake.
The Italian naval ship Libra left the port of Lampedusa in southern Italy on Monday carrying 16 men – 10 from Bangladesh and six from Egypt – who were rescued at sea after setting off from Libya, according to the Italian government.
The number of migrants reaching Italy along the central Mediterranean route from North Africa has fallen by 61% in 2024 from 2023.
According to the Italian Interior Ministry, as of Tuesday October 15, 54,129 migrants have arrived in Italy by sea this year, compared with 138,947 in the same period last year.
Under a five-year deal signed last November by Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and Mr 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 initially be screened on board the ships that rescue them before being sent to Albania for further screening.
The first centre in Shengjin, 40 miles (66km) north-west of the capital, Tirana, will be used to screen newcomers, and the other facility, about 14 miles (22km) to the east, near the former military airport in Gjader, will accommodate migrants during the processing of their asylum requests.
Italy has agreed to welcome those who are granted asylum. Those whose applications are rejected face deportation directly from Albania.
The controversial agreement to outsource the housing of asylum seekers to a non-EU member country has been hailed by some countries that, like Italy, are suffering a heavy burden of refugees.
The agreement was endorsed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as an example of “out-of-box thinking” in tackling the issue of migration into the EU, but has been condemned by human rights groups as setting a dangerous precedent.
In a statement, The International Rescue Committee said: “This dangerous model is not a sustainable solution, and must never become a blueprint for the EU’s approach to asylum and migration.”
Susanna Zanfrini of the group’s office in Italy said the asylum centres are “costly, cruel and counterproductive and have no place in a humane and sustainable asylum system”.
Ms Meloni and her right-wing allies have long demanded that European countries share more of the migration burden. She has held up the Albania agreement as an innovative solution to a problem that has vexed the EU for years.
