It began in mid-October 2024. It was then that a ship carrying foreigners reached the port of Albanian Shëngjin. There were six Egyptians and children of Bangladeshi citizens on board the Italian Border defender vessel. They were all swimming across the Mediterranean. towards Lampedusa – the first part of Italy and the European Union, on the way from the coast of Africa.
After a brief determination of their nationality and checking the condition of the arrivals, persons were selected who could apply for global protection in Italy, as they intended. The others were to undergo an accelerated asylum procedure in the centres that the Italian government had built in Albania.
Only men – the vast majority of applicants – are to go there in good physical and intellectual condition, and women, children, the aged and victims of torture will be sent to Italy immediately.
According to the project, up to 36,000 safety applications are to be considered in reception centres each year, i.e. a maximum of 3,000 per month. Head of Italian Government Giorgia Melonand argues that migration outsourcing is essential as the Italian asylum strategy is overloaded. It does not mention that the number of migrants and migrants who reached Italy from North Africa decreased by more than 2024 60 percent compared to 2023 – from almost 140 1000 to 52 thousand.
Anyway, the plan was met with the warm reception of the European Commission's head Ursuli von der Leyen, who saidthat "this is an example of a non-standard reasoning based on a fair sharing of work with 3rd countries, in line with obligations under EU and global law".
However, no 1 predicted that no of the Egyptians and the Banglians would spend more than a fewer days in Albanian centers. This is the consequence of a ruling by a court in Rome based on an earlier ruling by the Court of Justice of the EU, which shows that their countries of origin cannot be considered safe, so that subjecting migrants to an accelerated asylum procedure in a country outside the Union is contrary to EU law.
Men were so transported to Bari in confederate Italy. The effort to transport the second group of Egyptians and Bangladesh nationals to Albanian centres ended in November. Since then, action has been halted, but Meloni has not yet said the last word.
“There is no turning back”
I come to Shëngjin in mid-November. Although temperatures are higher in Albania than in Poland, my hands are skewed from the penetrating coastal wind. For now, the hotel in the city port is empty, not counting Italian officers who defender containers separated from the remainder of the port by a advanced steel wall. That's the first point to be brought in by migrants. Their wellness position is reviewed and the most crucial individual data is confirmed.
From here foreigners are to be transported to a half-hour by car hotel close the village of Gjadër. This is the right one, where they can stay for up to 28 days, due to the fact that this is what the accelerated procedure for examining asylum applications takes. From this point there are 2 directions – transport back to Italy, already with the exile position granted, or deportation to the country of origin if he wishes to receive them back. The unofficial presumption is that migrants will resign from taking their way to Italy if they are threatened with "shipping" to Albania.
In addition, Italy expects that most people who go to Albania will be deported after a month. That is why citizens of the alleged safe countries to which deportation is possible would go. The problem is that Italy considers safe countries that are not safe at all - at least not for everyone.
In a small, sleazy port tavern, I meet respective police officers and riflemen who had just left the center's walls.
– I'm leaving in a fewer days. My 20-day shift is over, they'll most likely send individual to my place, says 1 of them. A fewer days after our conversation, I find out that more than half the Italian officers have returned to the country. After all, who pays to defender empty rooms?
– What do you think of this project? possibly it will be helpful for your country, after all, you hear a lot that migrants bring danger to Italy? – I pull a policeman by the tongue. However, this 1 looks at me from behind dark glasses for a moment, as if he does not know what I mean.
Bullshit. There is always a crime in cities, with or without migrants – it's blooming.
When we're done talking, the truck just ahead of us is moving the last pieces of debris left after the construction of the facility. - The project's on the move. There is no turning back – I hear from a individual close to the Italian embassy in Tirana. Giorgia Meloni has sacrificed besides much to make the task happen. This is not only about your reputation, but about at least EUR 600 million to be invested in reception centres for the next 5 years.
Deal for political benefit?
Shëngjin is simply a tiny tourist destination, surviving from period to season. In November, buildings and streets are deserted. A fewer smoke in the bars of 1 cigaret after another, the matrimony leaves after Sunday Mass. I attach individuals to the premises and the seaside boardwalk to what they think about this investment.
Most people don't want to talk about centers. A friendly Albanian convinces me that people are afraid to take on political issues in a country that inactive remembers violent communism, and present is de facto ruled authoritarianally by Prime Minister Edi Rama of the Socialist organization of Albania.
– What good is that for the city? No 1 will make money on these migrants, and Italian officers are sitting in a hotel – a group of 3 young men in hoods I meet at the boardwalk in the evening. Each of them is going to work abroad, as is almost half of the 5 million citizens of Albania, who face unemployment and corruption. individual else repeats the conspiracy explanation circulating on social media that Prime Minister Edi Rama plans to disembark Albanians from their country and replace them with Africans – obscure political arrangements are water on the mill of the strangest rumors.
I agree to meet with the opposition MP of the Democratic organization of Albania, Agron Gjekmarkaj, who comes from these areas.
It's a precedent. The task has sparked quite a few controversy and discussion, as well as a reaction from the Vatican, NGOs, Albanian society and yet us, that is, the opposition – he says erstwhile we meet in a restaurant at 1 of the gas stations.
He argues that the real reason why Prime Minister Rama agreed to this agreement was the expected political benefits for himself, even at the expense of the country's reputation.
– There is something disturbing about it erstwhile you see people being transported to the hotel in something that looks like a prisoner, although they are not guilty of anything and just want a better life – he states, thus describing the transport of foreigners from Shëngjin to the another centre, which is close Gjadër. I'm going there the next day.
A neat prison
A cracked street leads along the mountains to the center itself. It lies just before entering Gjadër, a village of about 700 people, and looks almost identical to the 1 in Shëngjin – at least as much as I can see from the mountain way moving next to it. Despite repeated requests sent to the Italian embassy, I was incapable to enter. The entrances are guarded by 2 Albanian officers to support Italian riflemen and policemen.
I am informed about the conditions in the premises by Damian Boeselager, a German Euro MP from the Social Liberal Volt Europa organization who visited there in November. – It is simply a typical reception centre, or container town, which has conditions akin to prisons. However, compared to another centres I have seen in Greece, it seems very neat. It's hard to be surprised, due to the fact that nobody lived there in the end – he says.
The hotel in Gjadër is divided into 3 sections. In the first foreigners will be waiting for protection applications to be processed. The second is intended for those who committed a crime at the centre, and in the 3rd they are to wait for the deportation of migrants whose applications have been rejected.
World law-human organizations have no uncertainty that the full task is an experimentation conducted at the expense of people on the way. – Experience shows that offshore asylum programmes cannot be implemented in a manner compatible with human rights and global law," says Judith Sunderland, Deputy manager for Europe and Central Asia at Human Rights Watch.
The organisation besides points out that how Italy will warrant a fair asylum procedure and control of detention in another country, “remains a secret”. On the ground, I learn that the powers to monitor the situation of migrants in the centres are to be conferred on the Albanian Ombudsman Erind Ballanca. She hasn't visited the centers yet.
On the another hand, Members of the Volt Europe organization indicate that the task not only violates human rights, but is besides full of ambiguity about the backing plans of the centres. There was besides no tender for a contractor among construction companies (Italy introduced a peculiar law to circumvent the European tender directive). However, Giorgia Meloni and Edi Rama seem to think that the end justifies the means.
Work or emigrate
After a fewer minutes of driving, I scope Gjadër. On the main street are 2 shops where you can buy vegetables, snacks, toys, tiny ceramics, soap, cigarettes. Besides, there are respective cafe bars, an abandoned pool hall and an orphanage run by nuns. On Sunday around noon, despite the sunny weather, there is barely anyone here, only a fewer aged people rush to mass to a tiny church. A period ago, many journalists were curious in the city. Today, the interest went out.
– All the young people left for work, mainly to Italy, we are left alone here – I hear from pensioners collecting olives and oranges from garden trees. Emigration for bread is simply a popular solution in a country with advanced unemployment.
W Gjadër besides learns that Italy has offered respective jobs to the local community while building and maintaining cleanliness at the resort. The remuneration is much higher than the hungry pensions of Albanians and Albanians, which is why it would be better for them if the investment went ahead, even if only individuals benefit from it.
– At first people were afraid of bringing strangers here, but in time they understood that the hotel was a chance for them to gain money – Alexander Preka, the chief of the Gjadër, tells me. He adds that during the construction process, the Italian ambassador besides promised to make local infrastructure. There's no sign of her yet.
Although affirmative for the project, Preka points out that migrants should not be kept locked up. They're not criminals, they're people who run distant from threats. If I had an influence on it, it would surely not have created this advanced barrier – he points out.
Around noon, I talk in a cafe of 3 men aged about 50. 1 is already heavy drunk, the another reluctant to talk. Only 1 has something to say about the hotel – it is called the Rrok Rrok and is simply a retired mayor of the municipality.
It confirms what Alexander Preka said earlier – the first unwillingness of the inhabitants turned into support erstwhile any of them got the centre of work.
– I have no uncertainty that the task is utilized to conduct politics. Migration is simply a problem for Europe as a whole, any countries build advanced walls, fences. Therefore, I am not amazed that any of them have taken an interest in a akin solution that Meloni has applied, says erstwhile mayor and adds:
– If for the next 5 years this part of our land will be under Italian management, then, in fact, as Albanians, we have nothing to do with this centre. However, from the position of Gjadër, I hope the task will work.
– And if not? – I ask.
"Well, it will mean that more people will emigrate to Italy for work, as they have been doing for a long time.
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The material was created with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network grant. Thank you for helping Vladimir Karaj on the spot.
