Italy says the migrant pact with Albania isn’t comparable to the UK-Rwanda plan. An Italian plan to create migrant camps in Albania cannot be compared to Britain’s bid to deport irregular asylum seekers to Rwanda, Italy’s foreign minister said on Tuesday, stressing the way requests would be handled would properly preserve refugees’ rights.
The right-wing government of Giorgia Meloni unveiled the plan earlier this month as its most recent effort to stop the country’s centers from being under increasing pressure from migrant departures from Africa.
Italy will establish two reception and detention camps in Albania, which will accommodate a maximum of 3,000 migrants at any one time, marking the first-ever pact involving a non-EU country receiving migrants on behalf of a member nation.
In 2016, the EU negotiated a deal with Turkey to prevent individuals heading for the bloc irregularly.
“Migrants will be treated according to Italian and European standards,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told a session of the lower house of parliament dedicated to the arrangement, which provoked anger among the socialist opposition and human rights groups.
“This Protocol is not comparable to the agreement between the United Kingdom and Rwanda,” Tajani said, rejecting analogies between the Italian initiative and Britain’s, which UK’s top justices have found unlawful.
The protocol, seen by Reuters, states the camps will function under Italian sovereignty and should open in spring 2024.
Tajani said legislators in Italy would cover all the costs, including establishing and policing the centers, and would pay 16.5 million euros ($18.00 million) for the initial expenses.
Opposition MPs have been asking Meloni to seek legislative approval for the pact she agreed to with her Albanian colleague Edi Rama after the government stated it was not strictly needed based on Italian law.
However, Tajani, the successor of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi under the leadership of the coalition Forza Italia party, said the administration would propose a law bill to formally ratify the accord with Albania.
“We hope it can be approved in a time frame consistent with the urgency of tackling the management of growing migration flows,” he said. Some 150,000 maritime migrants have arrived in Italy so far this year, compared to around 94,000 in the same period in 2022.
