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Albanian government denies ‘selling’ land to Italy for migrant camps

Albania's government on Wednesday defended a deal to accept thousands of migrants rescued in Italian waters, with a leading minister insisting authorities were not "selling" land to a foreign country.

Published: 14 December 2023 09:08 CET
Albanian government denies 'selling' land to Italy for migrant camps
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama give a joint press conference as they sign an agreement on migrations at Palazzo Chigi in Rome on November 6th, 2023. (Photo by Tiziana FABI / AFP)

The agreement signed by the Italian and Albanian prime ministers last month has been condemned by opposition parties in both countries, as well as non-governmental groups.

Under the unique deal, two centres will be established near the Shengjin port in northern Albania to handle around 36,000 people a year sent by Italy to be screened to see if they qualify for  asylum in Italy.

READ ALSO: What’s behind Italy’s soaring number of migrant arrivals?

The deal still faces multiple legislative and legal hurdles in Albania before it can be implemented.

On Wednesday, Albania’s Constitutional Court temporarily blocked ratification of the agreement by lawmakers and ordered a public hearing next month to determine whether the agreement violates the constitution.

The government has launched a full-throated campaign to rally support for the deal ahead of any potential vote. “We are not selling a piece of land of Albania,” Interior Minister Taulant Balla told AFP during an interview.

“We are offering this land to Italy like we usually do for example when we set up an embassy,” he added, saying jurisdiction inside the camp would belong to Italy, but the land itself would remain in Albanian hands.

READ ALSO: How has Italy’s ‘anti-immigrant’ government changed the rules for foreigners?

Italy is set to cover the entire cost of the project including any additional expenses incurred by Albanian police providing security outside of the camp.

“The government of Albania has the right to negotiate such agreements on behalf of the republic of Albania,” Balla added, calling the deal “completely based on the constitution”.

The minister also promised there would be “no violation” of the human rights of individuals sent to Albania.

Balla called the deal a gesture of “solidarity” with Italy, citing Rome’s consistent support for Albania following the fall of communist rule in the early 1990s.

Italy has seen a dramatic rise in migrant arrivals by sea in recent months, with 145,000 since January against 88,000 for all of 2022.

The International Rescue Committee and Amnesty International rights groups have opposed the accord, while the UN refugee agency said it was not consulted.

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2024 EUROPEAN ELECTIONS

From Swexit to Frexit: How Europe’s far-right parties have ditched plans to leave EU

Far-right parties, set to make soaring gains in the European Parliament elections in June, have one by one abandoned plans to get their countries to leave the European Union.

Published: 6 May 2024 13:35 CEST
From Swexit to Frexit: How Europe's far-right parties have ditched plans to leave EU

Whereas plans to leave the bloc took centre stage at the last European polls in 2019, far-right parties have shifted their focus to issues such as immigration as they seek mainstream votes.

“Quickly a lot of far-right parties abandoned their firing positions and their radical discourse aimed at leaving the European Union, even if these parties remain eurosceptic,” Thierry Chopin, a visiting professor at the College of Europe in Bruges told AFP.

Britain, which formally left the EU in early 2020 following the 2016 Brexit referendum, remains the only country to have left so far.

Here is a snapshot:

No Nexit 

The Dutch Freedom Party (PVV) led by Geert Wilders won a stunning victory in Dutch national elections last November and polls indicate it will likely top the European vote in the Netherlands.

While the manifesto for the November election stated clearly: “the PVV wants a binding referendum on Nexit” – the Netherlands leaving the EU – such a pledge is absent from the European manifesto.

For more coverage of the 2024 European Elections click here.

The European manifesto is still fiercely eurosceptic, stressing: “No European superstate for us… we will work hard to change the Union from within.”

The PVV, which failed to win a single seat in 2019 European Parliament elections, called for an end to the “expansion of unelected eurocrats in Brussels” and took aim at a “veritable tsunami” of EU environmental regulations.

No Frexit either

Leaders of France’s National Rally (RN) which is also leading the polls in a challenge to President Emmanuel Macron, have also explicitly dismissed talk they could ape Britain’s departure when unveiling the party manifesto in March.

“Our Macronist opponents accuse us… of being in favour of a Frexit, of wanting to take power so as to leave the EU,” party leader Jordan Bardella said.

But citing EU nations where the RN’s ideological stablemates are scoring political wins or in power, he added: “You don’t leave the table when you’re about to win the game.”

READ ALSO: What’s at stake in the 2024 European parliament elections?

Bardella, 28, who took over the party leadership from Marine Le Pen in 2021, is one of France’s most popular politicians.

The June poll is seen as a key milestone ahead of France’s next presidential election in 2027, when Le Pen, who lead’s RN’s MPs, is expected to mount a fourth bid for the top job.

Dexit, maybe later

The co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Alice Weidel, said in January 2024 that the United Kingdom’s Brexit referendum was an example to follow for the EU’s most populous country.

Weidel said the party, currently Germany’s second most popular, wanted to reform EU institutions to curb the power of the European Commission and address what she saw as a democratic deficit.

But if the changes sought by the AfD could not be realised, “we could have a referendum on ‘Dexit’ – a German exit from the EU”, she said.

The AfD which has recently seen a significant drop in support as it contends with various controversies, had previously downgraded a “Dexit” scenario to a “last resort”.

READ ALSO: ‘Wake-up call’: Far-right parties set to make huge gains in 2024 EU elections

Fixit, Swexit, Polexit…

Elsewhere the eurosceptic Finns Party, which appeals overwhelmingly to male voters, sees “Fixit” as a long-term goal.

The Sweden Democrats (SD) leader Jimmie Åkesson and leading MEP Charlie Weimers said in February in a press op ed that “Sweden is prepared to leave as a last resort”.

Once in favour of a “Swexit”, the party, which props up the government of Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, in 2019 abandoned the idea of leaving the EU due to a lack of public support.

In November 2023 thousands of far-right supporters in the Polish capital Warsaw called for a “Polexit”.

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