Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni today visited the Port of Shengjin and the area of Gjadri where the two reception structures for migrants will operate, according to the agreement signed between the two countries, which has provoked numerous debates not only in Italy. Accompanied by Prime Minister Edi Rama, she declared that these structures will be ready at the beginning of August. Ms. Meloni insisted that the agreement could be a powerful tool to curb migratory flows. The Albanian Prime Minister, for his part, repeated that his country took this step as a sign of gratitude to Italy for the great support it has offered to Albania over the years.
Seven months after the signing of the agreement for migrants in Rome, with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, the head of the Italian government, was today in Gjadër e Shengjin, where the two host structures will operate. The protocol between the two countries provides that the migrants caught at sea by the ships of the Italian authorities will be brought to Albania, where the camp that will be set up in Gjadër will have a maximum capacity of 3,000 people.
In the Port of Shengjin, where the first procedures for the identification of migrants will be carried out, the structure has been completed. But as Prime Minister Meloni explained, everything is expected to start at the beginning of August: “The two structures will be operational from August 1 and we will start with more than 1,000 places, and then reach 3,000 as provided by the Protocol”.
Since the signing, the agreement has been at the center of many debates, mainly in Italy. While the opposition has attacked Ms. Meloni for talking about an electoral movement of hers, or about expenses that do not justify the purpose, human rights organizations have also raised concerns about the risk of violating international conventions on migrants and asylum.
For Prime Minister Meloni, on the contrary, “the most useful element of this agreement is that it can be an extraordinary tool to stop illegal immigrants who want to arrive in Italy and Europe and it can also be an efficient instrument to “countering traffickers’ networks, because, yes, there are traffickers that we try to fight. This also translates into a reduction in costs.”
Prime Minister Edi Rama, for his part, said that Albania became the object of unjust attacks with half-truths: “This center here makes a lot of noise just because we are not in the European Union because if the same center as here had been built, in every country of the European Union, it is considered normal. Here, it is considered Guantanamo or Lager. For what reason?”
Mr. Rama repeated that he had previously rejected similar agreements with other countries, but with Italy, due to the special relations between the two countries, and the great support that it has offered to Albania, it was an expression of gratitude. “There are no calculations of any kind here. Then, whether it works or not, there will be problems, how the problems will be solved, these are all things that time will prove, but this is an agreement of the heart and an agreement of responsibility, in relation to a strategic friendship and in relation to a community such as the community of European countries that is today in a situation where there are many questions about how to address this phenomenon.
The two prime ministers pointed out the fact that a good part of the countries of the European Union, as they said, are looking to follow the example of the agreement between Albania and Italy.
/Argumentum.al
