It is a great political marketing operation. It does not matter that the costs are high and that the impact on migration is marginal. What matters, a few months after the European consultation, is the perception of the voter. And on this front the result is assured.
The realization of an Albanian pole where migrants can be confined, while waiting to determine whether or not they have the requirements to be welcomed, reassures public opinion. And it also garners support in Europe, a Europe deaf to the cries coming from Africa and increasingly tired of having to deal with waves of landings that seem irrepressible.
There is no doubt: at the propaganda level the project set up by Giorgia Meloni is a real masterpiece. The impact is limited if you consider the flows, but that is not the problem. The important thing is that the citizen feels protected in some way.
Starting next spring, just in the run-up to the European elections, we will see migrants who no longer set foot on Italian beaches, but are being diverted to Albania. With the concrete hope of creating - whispering government sources - a deterrent effect, considering that Albania certainly does not have the attractiveness of Italy and other European countries. Let alone the fact that the agreement between Meloni and Edi Rama - the socialist premier of Tirana - does not consider the possibility that only one asylum seeker will enter Albanian territory. The important thing is that the centers that will be set up and in which the Italian law will be in force, are outside our territory: eye does not see, heart does not hurt.
The numbers were mentioned: from 1 January to 1 September 2023 there were 114526 landings in Italy. A figure that projected at 31 December brings to 171789 the number of people landed on our shores. The Meloni government estimates that 3000 migrants per month, for a total of 36000 per year, will be transferred to Albania, with a view to carrying out the reception or rejection procedures in 28 days. Given that we are currently experiencing much longer delays - there are dossiers that take up to a year - let us say that optimism has been widely used at the planning stage. If it is true that, at least at the initial stage, the available seats will be 720 and not 3000.
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In any case, even making the highest profession of faith and therefore calculating the 36000 migrants per year planned by the government, there would not be even a quarter of the landings calculated for 2023. Without forgetting, it is no small detail, that the refugees destined for Albania will be adult women and men (excluding children and pregnant women) collected outside European waters, by virtue of continental regulations that at the first catch will become the subject of the inevitable shooting by our authorities.
The costs will be considerably high. An initial disbursement of about 200 million euros is estimated, 30 of which destined for the construction of the two structures at the port of Shengjin, at Bari, and in the area of Gjader, 20 km inland. Places treated as border or transit areas where, as mentioned, Italian jurisdiction will apply. The power of attorney will be Rome. Asylum applications will be processed by video conference. The right to defence will be guaranteed through the appointment of office lawyers: they will also deal with migrants on call.
Provision was made for 135 recruitments among magistrates, judicial assistants, officials of the Ministry of Justice, doctors and nurses.
German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz of the Socialist Party said: "An interesting experiment". Albanian Premier Edi Rama of socialist area applauds: "If Italy calls Tirana responds". Elly Schlein, leader of the Democratic Party denounced: "The agreement violates international law". Matteo Salvini, lighthouse of the League, who suffers from the fact that he had no say in the agreement, thunders: "Italy is not a refugee camp". Giuseppe Conte, number one of the grillini, attacks: "A mass deportation that will cost us a lot". Giorgia Meloni, waiting to move on to the ballot box, sits on the perch and chuckles: "I do not know why the left contexts so. Maybe they hope we can’t solve the problem".
The spot is served, the appointment is set: Sunday, June 9, 2024. We vote for the European.
Illustration by Gloria Dozio - Acrimònia Studios
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