The move comes as a court in Rome questions the legality and validity of a deal agreed between Albania and Italy to limit migrant arrivals.
advertisementItaly’s cabinet has passed a decree allowing the government to revise the list of safe countries for migrants to arrive, removing a legal obstacle to implementing the government’s controversial multi-million-euro immigration deal with Albania.
The government was forced last Saturday to return 12 migrants who had previously been transferred to Italy’s new migrant processing center in Albania after a Rome court questioned the plan.
According to the court, the immigrants’ countries of origin (Bangladesh and Egypt) are ‘unsafe’. The court said discrimination and prosecution in even one part of the country could make it illegal to send the men to Albania.
In a blow to the deal, in which other European countries have expressed interest, a judge ruled that the men cannot be deported because they pose a risk of violence if returned to their countries of origin.
Following the court ruling, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni convened his cabinet on Monday to find a legislative solution.
Meloni and her party argued that the government, not the judiciary, should decide which countries are safe.
According to local media, Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of the Interior and Justice drafted a new law over the weekend proposing to update the list of safe countries every six months.
strengthening government power
The court’s decision upheld an October 4 ruling by the European Court of Justice. The far-right Brother’s of Italy party, led by Meloni, argues that government decisions should take precedence over those of the judiciary.
“The definition of a safe state cannot be left to the judiciary,” Justice Minister Carlo Nordio said. “This is a political decision, even if it is within the framework of international law.”
As part of a long-running dispute between Italy’s far-right government and legal experts, Meloni said the court’s decision to send the migrants back was “biased.” Her party colleagues claimed the court was full of “political magistrates”. “I want to abolish Italian borders. We will not allow that.”
The plan between Tirana and Rome was to establish an expatriate processing center in Shengjin, a port city close to the Albanian capital.
Up to 3,000 migrants apprehended by the Italian coastguard on the high seas each month will be protected in Albania under a five-year deal signed by Meloni and his Albanian counterpart Edi Rama last November.
The deal has attracted interest from several countries, including Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany, despite Albania’s claims that it is limited to Italy.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen offered potential support for the plan in a letter shared with the press last week, suggesting that EU member states develop “innovative solutions” to tackle the migration problem. This is often a transactional euphemism.
Not everyone reacted so positively. After the Rome court’s ruling on Friday, Italy’s opposition parties – the Democrats, the Five Star Movement and the Green Left Alliance – said the court ruling showed the plan was against the law and should be scrapped.
