(ANSA) – ROME, JAN 25 – After a two-month-long pause caused by legal obstacles, operations to take migrants rescued in the Mediterranean to Italian-run processing centres in Albania have resumed, sources said on Saturday.
Italian Navy patrol vessel Cassiopea, which is anchored in international waters some 20 miles from the island of Lampedusa, took 11 migrants on board, Egyptians and Bangladeshis, on Friday and Saturday, the sources said.
They are set to part of the third group of migrants taken to Albania after the first two operations under the controversial scheme in October and November.
The ship is waiting to take on more people before heading to the Albanian port of Shengjiin.
Italian judges refused to validate the detention of the first two small groups of asylum seekers taken to Albania, under an agreement between Rome and Tirana, referring their cases to the European Court of Justice – which had earlier established that an applicant could not go through a fast-track procedure that could lead to their repatriation if their country of provenance was not deemed wholly safe.
The countries of origin in the cases, Bangladesh and Egypt, were not judged to be safe “over all of their territory”.
The government in December tried to get around this hurdle with a measure listing 19 safe countries for repatriation, including both Bangladesh and Egypt.
The Albania scheme, the result of an agreement between Premier Giorgia Meloni and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, has been criticised by Italy’s opposition for being expensive – around 800 million euros over five years – and addressing only a drop in the ocean of migrants that reach Italy each year.
But the European Commission and several European leaders have expressed interest in it becoming a possible model for managing migrants outside of EU territory. (ANSA).
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Italian Navy patrol vessel Cassiopea, which is anchored in international waters some 20 miles from the island of Lampedusa, took 11 migrants on board, Egyptians and Bangladeshis, on Friday and Saturday, the sources said.
They are set to part of the third group of migrants taken to Albania after the first two operations under the controversial scheme in October and November.
The ship is waiting to take on more people before heading to the Albanian port of Shengjiin.
Italian judges refused to validate the detention of the first two small groups of asylum seekers taken to Albania, under an agreement between Rome and Tirana, referring their cases to the European Court of Justice – which had earlier established that an applicant could not go through a fast-track procedure that could lead to their repatriation if their country of provenance was not deemed wholly safe.
The countries of origin in the cases, Bangladesh and Egypt, were not judged to be safe “over all of their territory”.
The government in December tried to get around this hurdle with a measure listing 19 safe countries for repatriation, including both Bangladesh and Egypt.
The Albania scheme, the result of an agreement between Premier Giorgia Meloni and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, has been criticised by Italy’s opposition for being expensive – around 800 million euros over five years – and addressing only a drop in the ocean of migrants that reach Italy each year.
But the European Commission and several European leaders have expressed interest in it becoming a possible model for managing migrants outside of EU territory. (ANSA).
Read article…
