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Der Standard: Meloni sends convicted criminals to Albania's camps

Politiko 2025-04-13 19:11:34

Der Standard: Meloni sends convicted criminals to Albania's camps

The German newspaper Der Standard has recently commented on the developments around the agreement between Italy and Albania on the placement of migrants in deportation camps on Albanian territory. According to reports, the Italian government, led by Giorgia Meloni, has changed its strategy and is using the camps not for asylum seekers arriving by dinghy, but for migrants who have committed criminal offenses and who have been issued deportation orders by the Italian authorities.

German media report that a group of 40 migrants, from countries such as Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Nigeria, Egypt, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Georgia and Moldova, were transferred overnight from cells in Italy to the port of Brindisi. There they were loaded onto the Italian military ship Libra and arrived at the port of Shengjin, to then settle in the camp of Gjader, 20 kilometers away.

Some of the envoys were convicted of serious crimes, including sexual offences, attempted murder and theft. However, a good part of them had no criminal records, but were detained for lack of residence documentation.

The bilateral agreement provides for migrants to be held in Albanian camps for up to 18 months before being deported to their countries of origin.

An expensive and criticized project

The opposition in Italy has described this project as a "failed scheme" that, according to it, has cost the Italian budget over a billion euros. This is the fourth attempt to put the camps into operation in Albania, as the previous three attempts have been blocked by Italian courts for rights violations and legal deficiencies.

Initially, the camps were intended for asylum seekers caught at sea before entering Italian territory, who would be subjected to an accelerated asylum procedure that lasted a maximum of 30 days. But with the change of strategy, the Meloni government is trying to justify the costs by placing migrants who are already on Italian territory and are deported.

Critics see this as a clear departure from the original goal and an attempt to politically escape from a project that is receiving more and more criticism, both in Italy and in the international arena.

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