in Albania, the detention centers for migrants built by Italy are not unanimously accepted

Italy is building detention centers in Albania to accommodate migrants rescued at sea and examine their asylum applications.

Giorgia Meloni made it one of the symbols of her policy against immigration. For several months, Italy has been building migrant detention camps on the other side of the Adriatic, in Albania. Operated by the Italian authorities themselves, these centers could accommodate 36 people each year. 000 people, rescued at sea, while their asylum requests are studied. A project supported by the Albanian Prime Minister but which is not unanimous on site.

The noise of backhoe loaders resonates continuously in the modest village of Gjadër, located 80 km north of Tirana. The detention center for migrants that Giorgia Meloni is having built next to their home worries the residents. “No one asked us for our opinion on these campsexplains Armando, 31 years old. The State decides on its own, and it doesn’t care about the opinion of the people. But what do we have to gain from these camps? And Italy has no land at home? She has plenty!”

Twenty kilometers further south, on the Adriatic Sea, gray prefabs protected by metal grilles have been installed in the port of Shëngjin. The restaurateurs of this seaside town are largely opposed to the project, but no one criticizes the choices of the all-powerful Albanian Prime Minister. Edi Rama highlighted a “debt” of his country: 30 years ago, Italy had welcomed hundreds of thousands of Albanian refugees, like Besnik Sulaj, 63 years old.

Today, he runs a hotel near the port: “When I see the refugees today, I think about my life and when I arrived in Italy in 1993. Difficult years, I didn’t know the language, nothing. I had no food, nothing. And Italians helped me. I have no problem with the arrival of these refugees: we Albanians do not make religious divisions, and we are not racist. We welcome all immigrants!

Many technical and legal questions surround the project of the head of the Italian government, and its cost could exceed 650 million euros. On the Albanian side, activist Arlinda Lleshi organized demonstrations to denounce her country’s loss of sovereignty: “Sending these people to us is pure electoral propaganda. But why should we accept that Albania is still a vassal of foreign countries and play into the hands of a political leader who wants to stay in power? is an agreement that makes no sense and from which we have no benefit.”

According to many experts, this relocation of Italian detention centers to Albania does not respect European law. But around fifteen member states have already proposed increasing this type of agreement.