Italy Sends Migrants to Albania
The first group of migrants has arrived at Italy's controversial new processing center in Albania. 16 Egyptian and Bangladeshi men were taken to the port of Shengjin by an Italian naval vessel.
#migrants #albania #italy #meloni
#migrants #albania #italy #meloni
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00:00Well, Jamie, the way this works is the groups of migrants are first brought to this processing
00:05centre at that port in Albania. That is where we believe they actually fill in the paperwork
00:11for applying for asylum inside Italy, and then they are then taken to an accommodation
00:17centre that's also been built that's only about a 15-minute drive away from that initial
00:23processing centre. While they're in those two facilities, they are under Italian law
00:28or Italian jurisdiction throughout, and then once they get a result on their asylum application,
00:34they will either be taken to Italy if it's approved, or they're taken back to their home
00:38country if it is denied. Now, as this first group arrived at this centre in Albania, we
00:44did also see a small group of protesters outside, and I think that really reflects the huge
00:50amount of anger that there is here in Italy amongst opposition groups, but also amongst
00:55NGOs that work on migrant rights. You have one Italian Member of Parliament who's described
01:01this as Italy's Guantanamo, a reference there, of course, to the US detaining people in its
01:08military base on the island of Cuba. The Italian right-wing coalition government has really
01:14defended this policy, this new policy that it's created with Albania, by saying that
01:20it's only what they describe as non-vulnerable men who are going to be brought to this centre
01:25no women or children whatsoever, and it's also only men who come from what they define
01:31as safe countries.
01:33Italy is driving this plan. What's the response from other EU countries, and will they follow suit?
01:46Well, as we heard from Will in Brussels just a few minutes ago, Giorgia Maloney, the Italian
01:50Prime Minister, amongst a host of other European leaders, is heading to Brussels for a two-day
01:56European Council summit on Thursday and Friday, but on the sidelines of that, she's also co-hosting
02:03alongside her Dutch and Danish counterparts this sort of informal meeting, which they
02:08say is going to be about discussing innovative solutions to irregular migration, and we've
02:14also seen the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, a very powerful voice
02:19in Brussels of course, sort of signalling some support for this, she wrote a letter
02:24to the leaders of the EU saying that they should be exploring the concept of what she
02:30described as return hubs outside the EU, so that is something that with that kind of language
02:36sounds very similar to what Italy has done inside Albania.
02:40Just finally Jamie, I think it is worth noting as well that Ursula von der Leyen and Giorgia
02:44Maloney have worked very closely together, despite some recent tensions, but over a long
02:48time over the issue of migration, in particular brokering that deal together that the EU did
02:55with Tunisia, which has really been credited with slowing the numbers of migrants crossing
03:00the Mediterranean Sea from Northern Africa.
03:03Giles, thank you for that. Our correspondent Giles Gibson in Rome.