Opening of controversial Italian migrant centres delayed yet again
Government-aligned MEPs have defended the plan to detain migrant arrivals in Albania rather than Italy, an arrangement NGOs have decried as "cruel".
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00:00The construction of Italian migrant reception centers in Albania is still underway.
00:07They were supposed to open last May, and then in June Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni announced the opening would be postponed to the first week of August.
00:14But it seems it has been further delayed, with no date in sight.
00:18Rome and Tirana signed a five-year deal with Albania, agreeing to host the facilities that will be paid for and managed by the Italian authorities.
00:25The controversial plan has steered a lot of criticism.
00:29The opening, at least according to the forecast, should be by the end of the current year,
00:34because from a bureaucratic and realistic point of view, time is needed.
00:39As far as the costs are concerned, it is true that there is a cost of some millions of euros,
00:45but it is also true that the real cost is faced with respect to the phenomenon of immigration for foreigners,
00:52it is not the spot.
00:54The management of Italian immigrants costs about € 1,000 a month.
00:58The cost provided for this type of structure is absolutely irrelevant compared to the total cost of the migratory phenomenon.
01:08Albania will welcome up to 36,000 asylum seekers a year on behalf of Italy.
01:13Their requests will be examined by the Italian authorities to establish whether or not they will be repatriated.
01:20We are concerned not only about the principle of externalization, but about how it is carried out.
01:25We are talking about automatic detention, and this is already in violation of international law,
01:32for long periods of time, of people who are summarily identified on board Italian state ships,
01:41as having no right to protection from Italy and therefore to be sent back.
01:47This is a cruel agreement that has a goal, I don't even know if it will be achieved,
01:53perhaps not, to dissuade, and the policy of dissuasion through human rights violations.
01:59Meanwhile, the externalization of asylum procedures is gaining momentum among member states.
02:04It is a model that has convinced many member states, because in fact it has very significant advantages.
02:13The agreement between Italy and Albania is one of Giorgio Meloni's key political promises.
02:40Giorgio Arlandi, for Euronews, in Rome.