political debates on migrants in Ireland and Italy

The question of welcoming migrants is a political issue in Ireland, which experienced tensions in November. In Italy, the government of Giorgia Meloni wants to outsource part of its migration policy to Albania.

The immigration bill arrived on Monday December 11 at the National Assembly in France. In Italy, Giorgia Meloni wants to contain immigration by sending some of the exiles heading towards her country to Albania. In Ireland, the real estate crisis complicates the reception of asylum seekers.

In Ireland, a situation exploited by the far right

The Irish government currently provides accommodation for 100,000 asylum seekers, including 74,000 who have fled Ukraine. But the country is running out of emergency accommodation as temperatures plummet at the start of winter. Priority has been given to women and children, and men will have to sleep in tents outside. In addition to sleeping bags and tents, they now receive 75 euros per week instead of the 38 euros usually given to asylum seekers. During the day, centers can accommodate them, where they have access to meals and showers. There are around sixty men in this situation in Dublin.

But in addition to the cold, there are also fears about the safety of these foreign nationals, forced to sleep in the streets, in light of the riots of last November 23. These unprecedented scenes of violence took place following the call of several far-right factions. In May 2023 in Dublin, tents belonging to homeless refugees had already been deliberately set on fire. Several demonstrations also took place in front of emergency accommodation centers. This extremist discourse is fueled by the serious housing crisis facing the country and some Irish people may feel frustrated in the midst of a real estate shortage.

The huge influx of people into Ireland is recent, as in 2021 there were fewer than 10,000 asylum seekers in government-provided reception centers. This figure has increased dramatically to almost 100,000 by 2022.

If there is indeed an anti-immigration movement in the country, Ireland is currently an exception in Europe, because the far right does not have any electoral power. It is not represented in Parliament and no political party has taken up the issue of immigration. But it will be interesting to look at the next local elections, which will take place in May 2024.

In Italy, Giorgia Meloni in search of concrete results

On November 6, the Italian Prime Minister announced an agreement with Albania for the processing of 36,000 migrant files, or a little less than a fifth of the exiles arriving in Italy in 2023. These 36,000 files would be those of people rescued by official Italian ships in international waters. Firstly, migrants from countries deemed safe, in other words those who have the profile to be expelled quickly, would be directed towards Albania. The question of sorting on boats at sea remained unanswered.

Two centers under Italian jurisdiction must be created in Albania and, no, the legal instructions are not clear, with a first location for the processing of files and another which would be a detention center before expulsion.

The project passed to the Council of Ministers, but the cost of the operation, which includes the construction of the premises, operation, staff and police officers, is not mentioned precisely. “It will not amount to more than 200 million per year” said the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs. This agreement covers five years and should therefore reach one billion euros.

The effectiveness of such expenditure is called into question since the figure of 36,000 migrants supported will undoubtedly be significantly lower. Furthermore, only 15% of the expulsion measures decided in Italy are actually applied. There is no reason for the figure to be higher from these new centers. However, Albania does not want to keep people beyond a certain period. A good part will therefore end up arriving at the end of the chain in Italy.

There are also two other uncertainties. First of all, the guarantee of migrants’ rights, since interviews with lawyers remaining in Italy must be done by videoconference. Then, on the Albanian side, the Constitutional Court was seized by the opposition and the agreement could not be ratified.

Giorgia Meloni’s project will have advanced the debate in Europe on the externalization of migration policy, but she was elected on the promise of stopping the flow of migrants, which is for the moment a failure. It must show that it is looking for innovative solutions and if the centers see the light of day, it will be able to argue that some of the migrants who were heading towards Italy have landed elsewhere.