by Alessio Cuel –
The Council of Ministers, which ended at around 6pm on 5 December, gave the green light to the bill ratifying the international agreement between Italy and Albania on the management of migratory flows. This agreement would include the construction of two migrant management centers, one at the port of Shengjin and one located in the Gjader area.
Il Italian-Albanian protocol, signed on 6 November and composed of 14 articles and 2 annexes, would provide for a strengthening of cooperation between the two countries in view of Tirana’s accession to the European Union. The commonality of interests and aspirations, as well as geographical proximity, would make it a priority to intensify collaboration with the aim, according to the document, of hindering illicit migration on the European continent.
To avoid violations of European Union law by the Italian authorities, the agreement would provide for the possibility of allocating exclusively those migrants rescued in the international waters of countries not belonging to the Union to the Repatriation Retention Centers (CPR) in Albanian territory. European Union, and in any case not in numbers exceeding three thousand, as can be seen from Article 4 of the Protocol.
Despite the endorsement of the Council of Ministers, uncertainty remains regarding the costs and usefulness of the treaty. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani underlines the urgency of implementing the agreement and reduces its costs compared to public spending interventions of the past. In particular, according to the number one of the Farnesina, “the costs are lower than those mentioned, we are under the famous 200 million. They will be well spent on tackling irregular immigration. The money will be much less than that which was seized by the Financial Police due to the mismanagement of Superbonus funds.”
The data released by the Interior Ministry, meanwhile, reveal a marked increase in the number of migrants landed on the Italian coasts in 2023 compared to last year. As of 5 December, in fact, 152,882 migrants landed on our coasts, compared to 95,758 in 2022. Furthermore, compared to 2021, the number of migrants landed in Italy has more than doubled, with 63,062 individuals having landed on our territory at the time.
