Italy is aiming to extend at European level the model of migrant centres set up in Albania, proposing the creation of expulsion hubs of foreign nationals arriving on EU turf unlawfully to safe third countries while their asylum and immigration files are examined.
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The proposal, revealed by leading Italian media outlets and confirmed by government officials, will be presented by Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi at the extraordinary Council of European Union interior ministers convened for Tuesday.
The meeting was organised after the migration emergency that erupted in Ceuta, the Spanish exclave on Moroccan territory, where over the course of the last few days, as many as 70,000 migrants forced their way into the autonomous Spanish territory.
Among the potential host countries are several African states, with Uganda cited as one of the most concrete options. The question of the resources needed to fund the project, however, remains open.
“We need to build a common strategy on immigration. The Italian government requested this meeting, together with Denmark’s social democratic government, so that the Pact on Migration and Asylum is implemented in the EU. In other words, returns are activated,” said Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani to local media outlets ahead of Tuesday’s meeting.
Tajani also floated the “possibility of creating new Albania-model centres in various African countries” and “more generally in the countries of origin and transit”.
Madrid accused of ‘ideological manipulation’
The crisis in Ceuta has laid the groundwork for a new flashpoint between Italy and Spain over the management of migrants.
Tajani defended the position of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government, describing it as “rigorous and moderate”, while criticising the strategy of the Spanish government led by Pedro Sánchez, accused of pursuing an overly submissive approach to migration.
“Madrid’s approach runs counter to the Italian one, which almost all the other countries support,” the top Italian diplomat said.
“The ‘everyone come to Europe’ policy is wrong, because Europe is not able to take in everyone indiscriminately. And it is a good sign that the European Commission has backed Italy’s position and not Spain’s,” Tajani added.
The Italian foreign minister denounced the “ideological manipulation” he says the Spanish government has created around the question of migrantion, explaining that the cooperation plan could lead to “policies that are needed”, far removed from “slogans and false promises”.
What is Italy proposing?
The government’s goal is to create a network of centres outside the European Union dedicated to the management and return of irregular migrants, based on cooperation with countries of origin and transit.
The idea was first put forward by the Italian premier at the end of June, after gaining approval of the new EU regulation on returns. Rome now intends to formalise the plan and present it to the other 26 member states.
The new hubs, under the Italian proposal, would be financed through the bloc.
An initial list includes several African states and some countries located outside the traditional migration routes. Potential candidates include Ghana, Senegal, Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania, Egypt, Uganda, Ethiopia, Uzbekistan, Armenia and Montenegro.
Uganda is among the options considered most concrete. Germany, Austria and the Netherlands are reported to have already expressed interest in possible projects in the African country.
Montenegro could also be brought into the European strategy, although discussions remain at a preliminary stage. One of the key issues still to be settled concerns the financial coverage of the plan, including contributions of both the EU and at the national level.
The GSP+ programme
Rome will also call for a stricter application of the Generalised Scheme of Preferences programme, known as the GSP+, which was approved earlier this year and is set to enter into force from 1 January 2027.
The system links trade benefits and tariff reductions granted to developing countries to their cooperation in readmitting citizens who are attempting to enter or stay in Europe illegally.
The aim is to strengthen the tools available to facilitate and support returns of migrants and asylum seekers, and increase cooperation with countries of origin of those migrants.
In parallel, the government is seeking to make fully operational by the end of the year the Italian-run centre in Gjader, in Albania.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi explained that the goal is “to bring it back into full operation at the height of its capacity by the end of the year, or even earlier if the problems and legal proceedings are resolved”.
The facility is set either to resume its original function or to be used in line with the new EU regulations, once the necessary judicial steps have been completed.
The initial plan envisaged a much broader use of the Albanian centres, with a capacity estimated at up to 3,000 people a month and a possible total of 36,000 migrants a year.
The aim was to apply fast-track border procedures to examine asylum applications. Since April last year, however, the site has operated exclusively as a detention centre for returns. Only a few hundred people have passed through it since then, and the number of returns has remained limited.
The Gjader complex includes three facilities with different functions. The largest centre, for asylum seekers, has 880 beds. There is also an Italian-run repatriation holding unit (CPR) with capacity for 144 people and a small 20-person holding prison.
In the port of Schengjin an initial reception hotspot has been built to take in migrants intercepted in the central Mediterranean and transferred on-board an Italian naval vessel.
Detention orders issued at the facility, however, have not been validated by judges, slowing down the implementation of the project.