Albanian court suspends controversial Italian migrant deal

The Albanian Constitutional Court has announced the suspension of ratifying the approval of the migrant agreement between Italy and Albania, scheduled for Thursday, after the opposition filed a case claiming the deal violates the constitution and international conventions to which Albania is a party.

Two separate appeals were filed by the Albanian Democratic Party and 28 other MPs, who sided with former centre-right prime minister Sali Berisha. The appeals claim that the Rome agreement between Meloni and Rama violates national and constitutional law and a bevy of international agreements and treaties.

In particular, the appeals argue that the nature and conditions of the agreement go beyond a simple protocol between two governments since Albania renounced its sovereignty over the territory intended for the detention centres. Therefore, the prime minister should have obtained the authorisation of the president.

“The panel of judges that met today considered that the appeals submitted met the required criteria and decided to examine them in the plenary session. This automatically means that the parliamentary procedures for ratifying the agreement are suspended,” said the President of the Albanian Court, Holta Zaçaj.

As stipulated by the Albanian constitutional law, the consequence is that the parliamentary ratification of the agreement is suspended until the Court’s ruling, which it has until 6 March, i.e. three months, to formulate. The Court’s first session is scheduled for 18 January next year.

The Italian Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, says that the budget for the construction of migrant centres in Albania is certainly lower than what has been reported by some media.

“The clarification of resources is ongoing in the ministerial structures, but they should be seen as investments in managing migration policies. There will then be compensation for the costs burdening the reception system due to the massive arrivals of migrants,” Piantedosi said.

According to sources close to the government, there is ‘no concern’ about possible delays in implementing the agreement. This is even though work at the two sites in northern Albania is yet to start, with the governments’ saying they would be operational by spring.

In October, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her Albanian counterpart Edi Rama signed a Memorandum of Understanding that would have two centres in northern Albania deal with the evaluation and processing of asylum seekers and refugees rescued from the Mediterranean by Italian vessels.

The structures would be built, funded and operated by Italy, under Italian jurisdiction, wholly closed, guarded by Italian authorities, and by Albanian police outside. They could hold up to 3,000 people at any one time, with a maximum of 36,000 over a year.

When a decision has been made on the individual’s application, Italy retains full responsibility for removing them from the country, either to Italy or another location.

The assembly was set to vote on the law this week, and it would have likely passed due to the ruling socialist party holding enough seats within the party and with allies to push it through. It would then have to be passed to the president, himself appointed by the ruling socialist party and considered favourable to the government, to ratify.

Meloni is currently attending the EU-Western Balkans summit, which is also being attended by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, who will also be in Rome on Sunday to address ‘Atreju’, the annual conference of Meloni’s party, Fratelli d’Italia (ECR).

(Federica Pascale | Euractiv.it)

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