After court decision

12 migrants from Albania returned to Italy

(Bild: Copyright {yr4} The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Following a court decision, twelve migrants have been returned to Italy from a reception camp in Albania. The men from Egypt and Bangladesh arrived in Bari in southern Italy on Saturday afternoon. The Meloni government nevertheless intends to stick to its plans to outsource asylum procedures. 

The migrants had previously been transferred from a reception camp in Albania to the port of Shëngjin and onto an Italian coastguard ship.

Judge defends decision
Meanwhile, Luciana Sangiovanni, President of the Migration Division of the Court of Rome, defended her decision that twelve people held in an Italian migrant facility in Albania must be brought to Italy because their countries of origin, Egypt and Bangladesh, are not safe. She had acted in accordance with EU law, the judge said in an interview with the daily newspaper "La Stampa" on Saturday.

The migrants arrived in Bari in southern Italy on Saturday afternoon.

(Bild: AP/The Associated Press)

(Bild: Copyright {yr4} The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

According to the judge, "safe countries, to be considered as such, must be generally and uniformly safe". "This means that parts of the territory or categories of people cannot be excluded. And that is exactly what we wrote in our decision," said the judge.

We could not do otherwise and could not make a different decision. The ruling of the European Court of Justice not only binds us judges, but also the public administration.

Luciana Sangiovanni, Präsidentin der Abteilung für Migration des Gerichtshofs von Rom

Government sticks to asylum plans
Even after the court ruling in Rome, the Italian government is sticking to its controversial plan for processing migrants in Albania. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni scheduled a cabinet meeting for Monday. The government must explain in more detail what is meant by safe countries of origin. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi expressed his conviction that the ruling could be overturned. If necessary, the Supreme Court would be approached.

ECJ ruling on safe countries of origin
The decision of the six judges in Rome is based on a ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) from the beginning of October. This states that an EU country can only define a third country as a safe country of origin in asylum law if the conditions for this are met throughout the entire territory of the state. The decision of the court in Rome seriously calls into question the basis of the entire Albania plan, on which the Meloni government intends to spend more than 600 million over five years.

Italy set up 2 reception centers in Albania
Italy has set up two reception centers in Albania where asylum applications are to be processed. A first ship with migrants reached the port city of Shengjin on Wednesday. The move was based on the first agreement in which an EU country diverts migrants to a non-EU country to prevent illegal arrivals.