Italian Navy Libra Arrives In Albania With 16 Migrants For Screening And Transfer

A ship of the Italian Navy, the Libra, arrived in Albania with 10 Bengali migrants and six Egyptian migrants, docking at the port of Shengjin.

“Il ritorno dei campi di concentramento La deportazione dei migranti in Albania decisa dal governo italiano è un modello che la Commissione di Ursula von der Leyen vuole estendere al resto dell'Ue”

Appunti

The 16 migrants walked the few dozen meters from the quay to the hotspot entrance inside the port, where they were to undergo a health screening and identification procedures before being transferred the same day to the Gjader reception camp.

Appunti

In the first group, 4 migrants were sent back to Italy after two declared themselves minors and two reported health problems, with the RaiNews report saying “quattro sono stati riportati” to Italian coasts.

The RaiNews account also said the accelerated frontier procedures were intended to keep the group in the Gjader camp “nella speranza di poter comunque evitare il rimpatrio,” but that it would depend on whether magistrates approve the process.

RaiNews added that a Commissione Ue spokesperson said it is “Attualmente non è legalmente possibile per l'Ue avere questa opzione” for returns to third countries, and that “la legge Ue deve regolamentare il rimpatrio forzato in un Paese terzo” to make such a model possible.

RaiNews reported that Ursula Von der Leyen, in a letter to EU leaders ahead of the European Council of 17 and 18 October, said: “Con l'avvio delle operazioni del protocollo Italia-Albania, saremo anche in grado di trarre lezioni da questa esperienza nella pratica”.

In the same RaiNews account, Von der Leyen wrote that the EU should “continuare a esplorare possibili strade da percorrere riguardo all'idea di sviluppare centri di rimpatrio al di fuori dell'Ue”.

El País

The Appunti piece framed the Italian Albania deportation model as something the Commission of Ursula von der Leyen wants to extend “al resto dell'Ue,” and said that “quasi 80 anni dopo la fine della Seconda guerra mondiale” the Union is evaluating “la possibilità di costruire dei campi di concentramento”.

Appunti also said that in Brussels the most used term is “centri di deportazione,” while the article notes that in European jargon the camps are called “hub di ritorno”.

El País described the EU’s role as providing “le lyrics” after “Trump plays the music,” saying the Council, Commission, and European Parliament agreed a new returns regulation creating a legal framework to send migrants to “deportation camps outside the EU”.

RaiNews said the Gjader hotspot was opened with a five-month delay and described a reception center for asylum seekers “da 880 posti,” a Cpr “da 144 posti,” and a prison “da 20 posti,” with the site “perimetrato da muri e recinzioni e vigilato da telecamere”.

“In Italy, Giorgia Meloni criticized after the transfer of migrants to Albania”

Le Figaro

The same RaiNews report said the entire procedure from the asylum application had to conclude in “4 settimane,” with appeals examined via videoconnections with the tribunal of Rome, and that “i tempi per i ricorsi” were “dimezzati a 7 giorni”.

In the Appunti article, the author argued that the issue is not “che sono uno spreco di denaro del contribuente italiano,” but that “sono campi di concentramento,” and linked the debate to Giorgia Meloni in Parliament and Matteo Salvini facing a process in Palermo.

El País used the Albania center at Gjadër to argue that the EU is enabling a system akin to a “concentration camp,” calling it “un Guantánamo,” and said the EU promises “respect for fundamental rights” while claiming “there are no rights in a Guantánamo like the one Italy has in Albania”.

El País also said the EU agreed framework is meant to allow “other centers in third countries, especially in Africa,” and warned that those sent to the new deportation centers “will not even have images.”