Will it work? We hope so. The Italian government, which is playing a very important card, hopes so, as does the Albanian government, which has generously made the two territories available to enable Italy to implement and manage the project.
But also hoping for a success of this operation are other European countries that, like Italy, are pressed by illegal immigration. European Commission President Von der Leyen herself looks with interest at what will happen in Albania. Contrary to what they say, even leftist parties should hope that this experiment will achieve good results. And let's see why.
The idea of "exporting" the problem of irregular immigration meets not economic needs: it probably costs more to manage the influx of irregular immigrants outside the country. Doing so in countries outside Europe, however, can have three important consequences.
The first is to disincentivize the departures of those who are aware that they do not qualify for international protection: for those, knowing that they will end up in centers that are not in Germany Italy, France, Spain , the United Kingdom from which they can try to escape by staying illegally in those countries etc... and that they will surely be sent back to their country of origin will decrease the demand that goes to feed the human traffickers.
The second consequence is that the procedures for verifying requirements will have certain and much faster time frames than those that, for example , apply in Italy. Irregulars, after the time limits have expired, are crammed inhumanely into detention centers for repatriation. From there, after three months half return to freedom they become illegal immigrants beyond any control, a reservoir often drawn upon by criminals for their manpower.
But the most important consequence is that a significant portion of irregular migrant arrivals will "disappear" from the excessive visibility on public opinion that fuels a psychosis toward this issue. Psychosis miserably exploited by cynical and populist leaders to justify reactionary political propaganda that is often anti-democratic and racist.
If the issue of irregular immigration weighed much less on public opinion, what would happen to so many parties of the European far right that today travel around 30% of the vote?
Strange that the Italian leftists are not asking this question.
Labor's British PM Starmer poses it and is closely following what will happen in Albania. German Social Democrats are also looking for solutions similar to the one devised by Giorgia Meloni.
The most sensitive part of the project is meeting the 4-week deadline to give an answer to asylum seekers. If the procedure is adhered to ,the speed of decisions will avoid clogging the facilities: migrants from countries defined as safe (only men, of age and not vulnerable and intercepted in international waters) , identified in the Shengjin center , will be housed in the Gjader center and there they will know whether they are entitled to protection or will be returned. If they are entitled to protection they will be transferred to Italy otherwise they will remain in the Gjader center to be sent back to their country of origin. Unlike what happens in Italy they will not be able to escape from these centers with If as expected it will be 3 thousand people per month, that would be about 36 thousand migrants who will not go to crowd our centers that are largely inefficient and inadequate to handle these flows.
Critics raise an unacceptable argument based on prejudice. Because these centers are in Albania, they argue, they will be inhumane. This is a truly obscene argument that offends the Albanian people and their government who are treated as if they were a bunch of barbarians. So it is not whoever says these and thinks this should be ashamed.
Moreover, Albania will not be in charge of what happens in the centers that will be under Italian jurisdiction: they will be a piece of Italy on Albanian territory. If something goes wrong, it will not be the fault of the Albanians but of the Italians, just as it is the fault of the Italians if the 10 CPRs scattered across our national territory do not work .
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