The Italy-Albania agreement for immigrants / Roberto Forin for VOA: Not unexpected, but there are question marks about the implementation

The agreement signed last week in Rome between the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama for the construction in the Albanian territory of two reception centers for migrants leaving from South Africa to Italy, continues to cause wide debates.

The Albanian government approved its text a day ago, which is expected to be debated in the parliament, where this agreement must be ratified. The Albanian opposition has opposed it, but Mr. Rama's Socialist Party has the necessary numbers to get approval, as only a simple majority of votes is required.

The Deputy Director and Responsible for Europe at the International Mixed Migration Center based in Amsterdam, Roberto Forin, says that the agreement between Italy and Albania was not unexpected, since Europe is failing to solve the problem of immigrants.

According to him, the immigrants who will be sent to Albania can stay there for up to 18 months, until Rome examines their requests for asylum. Mr. Forin says that theoretically the agreement, which provides that the centers will act according to the jurisdiction of Italy, does not bring complications for Albania. However, according to him, difficulties may arise if the immigrants are allowed to leave the reception centers, since, in this case, it is unclear whether Italy or Albania would be responsible for them.

Voice of America: Mr. Forin, last week, Italy and Albania signed an agreement, according to which Albania will temporarily house immigrants, while Rome will examine their requests for asylum in Italy. What is your assessment of this deal?

Roberto Forin: In general I would say that this is not something unexpected. It is a fact that the European solution to the problem of migrants arriving in coastal countries in Europe, including Italy, Greece and Spain, is an issue that has been going on for many years and despite many efforts, so far there has not been much progress in the right direction. therefore, Italy's decision on this proposal did not come suddenly. What is proposed is the handling of at least part of the asylum procedures in another country, which is not part of the European Union, and this is not something new. We have seen the same approach recently from Britain with Rwanda, as well as from other countries, such as Denmark, which has announced that it is considering the same possibility.

Voice of America: This is the first case that a country that is not a member of the European Union accepts immigrants on behalf of a member state. As you mentioned, other countries can follow the same example. What concerns could such a possibility cause?

Roberto Forin: It remains to be seen how this agreement will go, starting from the fact that it will be implemented and if so, what impact it will have. At this moment, what I think is essential from the point of view of the current Italian government is to send a strong message to immigrants, who want to go to Italy, that they are not welcome; even before it has been made very clear that they may not end up in Italy, but somewhere else, in this case in Albania, and that they will probably have to wait up to 18 months in reception centers, before they learn whether their request for asylum in Italy will be accepted or not.

Thus, in this approach there is a very strong element of discouragement, sending a very clear message to immigrants, that "don't try to come here because you won't make it". This may affect the intention of immigrants who want to go to Italy; however, the likelihood that this will lead to a drop to zero in the number of migrants trying to enter there is slim.

In light of efforts to discourage immigration, it is likely that other countries in Europe will be tempted to follow the same approach. In fact, we have seen some countries, for example Germany, which have stated that they may consider such a possibility. As the European elections approach, EU member states are under pressure and want to create the perception that they are proposing solutions to the issue of illegal migration, in the face of the fact that, as I mentioned, the European Union as an institution has not been able to do so such a thing.

VOA: Do you think the waiting period for the processing of asylum applications for immigrants in Italy is the main concern with this agreement?

Roberto Forin: If they will be accommodated in a reception center, and here we are talking about asylum seekers who can be kept there for up to 18 months, waiting for the consideration of their requests, requests that in some cases can be accepted. Imagine someone who has strong grounds for seeking asylum in Italy, who has to stay up to 18 months in a reception center before being resettled in Italy and recognized as a refugee. This is of course very problematic.

Voice of America: What does this agreement mean for Albania? Its prime minister has declared that he is helping Italy, since in the past Italy has also helped Albanian immigrants.

Roberto Forin: If it will be implemented, I would like to underline that the terms of this agreement are very complicated, since the process of obtaining the data of immigrants is supposed to be carried out on the boat; therefore, when the immigrants are rescued, their data will be taken and apart from the most needy persons, such as women and children who will be accepted in Italy, the other asylum seekers will be sent to Albania. So I think that a considerable number of immigrants will be sent to Albania. It has been said that the reception centers will operate under Italian jurisdiction, so Italy will have the responsibility of managing these centers. If this is the case, theoretically there will be no additional responsibility for Albania. However, I find it hard to believe that this will be a reception center from where asylum seekers will not be allowed to go anywhere. Think for a moment that asylum seekers are allowed to move outside the reception centers; this would create problems for Albania, or between Albania and Italy regarding who will be responsible for these asylum seekers, if they are allowed to leave the reception centers.

But if not, then we would talk about a kind of Guantanamo, with reception centers outside the territory of Italy, but under Italian jurisdiction; this would be something new, so it is difficult to say now what complications it would bring for Albania.