Italy, the EU’s top migrant host, is partly outsourcing the challenge as of today, opening the first of two planned refugee camps in neighboring Albania.
Migrants will only start arriving at the camp once it is open and operational.
The centers will be used to house up to 3,000 migrants a month who are rescued en route to Italy as part of Europe’s first “offshoring” scheme, as the continent grapples with the challenge of dealing with irregular migration.
The camp opening today is located in the port of Sangin in northern Albania. The opening of a second center at a former air force base near Jadar has been delayed.
The buildings will be fully managed by the Italian government, which will pay for their construction.
They will be used to house migrants caught in international waters, but will not include women, children or people deemed vulnerable.
Once there, they will be allowed to apply for asylum in Italy. If refused, they will be sent back to a country where they are deemed safe to return.
Fabrizio Bucci, Italy’s ambassador to Albania, told me: “Italian and European legislation will apply to the centres. It would be like having a center in Italy, but in Albania.”
The deal signed by the Italian and Albanian prime ministers will remain in place for five years, with the option of extending it if it proves successful in easing Italy’s migrant burden and deterring some from trying to come.
The number of people arriving in Italy by sea this year (about 31,000 so far) has dropped by more than half compared with the same period in 2023.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni campaigned on a promise to crack down on immigration – and the Albanian plan has become a key tenet of that goal.
The high price tag, estimated at €650m (£547), is among the criticisms leveled by Italian opposition politicians and human rights groups.
Riccardo Magi, a lawmaker from the Left+European party, said “detaining a limited number of migrants is cost-prohibitive”.
When Ms Meloni recently visited the site in Albania, he approached her car to protest and was caught by Albanian security officials. When she intervened and told them to relax, he shouted: “If they treat elected members like this, imagine how they will treat immigrants”.
In an interview with the BBC, he compared the buildings to penal colonies.
He also doubted the ability of nighttime rescuers to properly screen those rescued to ensure no vulnerable people were sent to Albania.
“They will not be able to investigate further whether someone has suffered torture, sexual violence or discrimination in Africa because of their sexual orientation,” Mr Magee said.
“It’s all a dissuasion and a PR show to tell Italians that this is the first time the government can keep migrants out. But anyone risking their lives crossing to Italy will not be discouraged.
Fabrizio Bucci, Italy’s ambassador to Tirana, disagrees. “This is one of the factors that migrants and smugglers have to consider,” he said.
“What do we have to lose? We have been trying to redistribute immigrants across the EU without success. So why not try to create a new path? He called it an experiment that, if successful, could be replicated.
In fact, 15 EU member states, led by Denmark, recently wrote an open letter to the European Commission supporting the outsourcing of migration. Sir Keir Starmer has praised Italy’s deal with Albania after meeting the two prime ministers.
It draws comparisons to the previous Conservative government’s plan to deport failed asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda – a plan abandoned by Mr Starmer.
But these agreements are very different.
While Rwanda will manage asylum requests and asylum centers in accordance with its agreement, grant asylum to successful applicants and deport unsuccessful applicants to third countries deemed safe by the Rwandan government, Albania’s agreement will be governed by Italy.
“We ensure that Albanian legislation is fully compliant with EU and international law,” Ambassador Bucci said.
For Albania, the award will boost its profile in EU accession negotiations.
But Balkan Investigative Reporting Network’s Tirana-based correspondent Vladimir Karaj said Prime Minister Edi Rama’s announcement was “completely surprising”. The Rwanda deal followed reports that the UK intended to strike a deal with Albania, but Rama vetoed the deal.
“He claimed that he was firmly opposed to this treatment of refugees,” he said. “Therefore, when Albania reached an agreement with Italy, there was huge speculation about the personal benefits Rama received.”
Karaj said there was no “hard evidence” for this: “The government’s argument is that Italy is our best friend and that when our dictatorship collapsed in the 1990s, Italy took in the Albanians.”
Karaj said the deal was met with only brief protests by those who claimed it was aimed at replacing Albanians with foreigners or ceding territory to Italy.
He suspects other countries may now come knocking on Albania’s door.
“Albania needs Western support,” he said. “I don’t think Rama’s words that this is just for Italy would be accepted so easily if Western governments like the UK or Germany thought this was a solution.”
