EUROPEAN COMMISSION SILENT ON ITALIAN REPATRIATIONS DIRECTLY FROM ALBANIA

Brussels – Italy appears to be quietly pushing the boundaries of what's permissible in combating irregular migration. A recent operation, allegedly conducted out of public sight at the Italian center in Gjader, Albania, reportedly involved the repatriation of five Egyptian citizens on May 9 directly from Tirana, without transiting through Italy. This action raises significant questions about its compatibility with current European law, and the European Commission seems to have been left in the dark.

Either Brussels is turning a blind eye, or it was simply not informed by Italian authorities. Yesterday (June 24), Markus Lammert, the European Commission's spokesperson for Home Affairs, stated that "according to our information, so far national law applies in the center (Gjader), and this is in line with EU law." Essentially, the facility's existence is justified by a legal construct that deems it not technically on Albanian territory, but rather a fictitious extension of Italian territory.

However, this legal framework implies that unless the Italian government operates charter flights directly from the Gjader center, migrants designated for repatriation must first be brought back to Italy. Boarding them onto a flight at Tirana Airport constitutes an illegal transfer under European law. According to data from the Italian Interior Ministry, between April 11—when Gjader reopened as a CPR (Center for Identification and Repatriation)—and May 21, 24 migrants held there were returned to Italy before being repatriated to their countries of origin.

Yet, as Altraeconomia revealed, on May 9, a plane departed from Rome Fiumicino for the Albanian capital, from where it then departed for Cairo with five Egyptian citizens from the Gjader CPR on board. According to Gianfranco Schiavone of the Association for Legal Studies on Immigration (ASGI), "it is in no way permissible to arrange for a person to be taken outside the detention center area, onto Albanian territory, and then repatriated from there." Furthermore, Schiavone notes, "police operations conducted outside the Gjader center on Albanian territory against transported persons lack judicial oversight and thus occur without any legal coverage."

The crux of the matter is that the European Commission, which as the guardian of the treaties should loudly condemn such a violation of EU law, itself proposed, on March 11, a stricter approach to repatriations. This proposal includes the creation of detention centers in third countries from which migrants not eligible for asylum in the EU could be directly repatriated. This effectively gives a boost to Italy, which has, however, significantly pre-empted what is envisioned in a proposal that is only at the beginning of a long legislative process.

According to Cecilia Strada and Alessandro Zan, Members of the European Parliament for the Democratic Party, the operation is "extremely serious and incompatible with European law." The two accuse the government of "trying to slip it under the radar." In a parliamentary question supported by MEPs from the Democratic Party, the Green Left Alliance, and the Five Star Movement, they asked the European Commission to disclose whether it was aware of the events and what actions it "intends to take to ensure full compliance with EU law on repatriations."