Defying Brussels and activist judges, Italy has now enshrined its Albania migrant deportation deal into law.
On Tuesday, May 20th, the Italian Senate approved the upgrading of the so-called Albania decree into law, giving a green light to the migration centres in the Balkan country being transformed into ’repatriation’ facilities, holding illegal immigrants before they are deported.
The upper chamber of the Italian parliament passed the law with 90 votes in favour and 56 against, with one abstention.
Rome and Tirana signed the Albania-Italy Protocol, which forms the basis of this latest legal act, in 2023, amid protests from the leftist opposition and raised eyebrows in Brussels. Italian activist judges obstructed the implementation of the protocol whenever they could, and they even launched a lawsuit at the European Court of Justice, claiming the protocol violates EU law.
But in February this year, the European Commission took the side of Giorgia Meloni’s conservative government, which has insisted that national law supersedes EU law in determining which countries are “safe” for asylum seekers. Those who come from countries considered safe before reaching Italy have no right to asylum, and thus can be deported, the administration argued.
The Commission, listening to common sense, joined the legal case in Strasbourg, confirming that EU member states do have the right to decide which countries of origin they designate as “safe” for deportation within certain parameters.
Ursula von der Leyen’s Commission has been ‘rethinking’ its stance on migration for some time, but conservatives suspect this is not because of a genuine change of heart, but to prevent populists from gaining more ground on the issue.