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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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POLITICS

‘Worrying developments’: NGOs warn of growing pressure on Italian media freedom

Media freedom in Italy has come increasingly under pressure since Giorgia Meloni's hard-right government took office, a group of European NGOs warned on Friday following an urgent fact-finding summit.

Published: 17 May 2024 17:40 CEST
‘Worrying developments’: NGOs warn of growing pressure on Italian media freedom

They highlighted among their concerns the continued criminalisation of defamation – a law Meloni herself has used against a high-profile journalist – and the proposed takeover of a major news agency by a right-wing MP.

The two-day mission, led by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), was planned for the autumn but brought forward due to “worrying developments”, Andreas Lamm of the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) told a press conference.

The ECPMF’s monitoring project, which records incidents affecting media freedom such as legal action, editorial interference and physical attacks, recorded a spike in Italy’s numbers from 46 in 2022 to 80 in 2023.

There have been 49 so far this year.

Meloni, the leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, took office as head of a hard-right coalition government in October 2022.

A key concern of the NGOs is the increased political influence over the RAI public broadcaster, which triggered a strike by its journalists this month.

READ ALSO: Italy’s press freedom ranking drops amid fears of government ‘censorship’

“We know RAI was always politicised…but now we are at another level,” said Renate Schroeder, director of the Brussels-based EFJ.

The NGO representatives – who will write up a formal report in the coming weeks – recommended the appointment of fully independent directors to RAI, among other measures.

They also raised concerns about the failure of repeated Italian governments to decriminalise defamation, despite calls for reform by the country’s Constitutional Court.

Meloni herself successfully sued journalist Roberto Saviano last year for criticising her attitude to migrants.

“In a European democracy a prime minister does not respond to criticism by legally intimidating writers like Saviano,” said David Diaz-Jogeix of London-based Article 19.

He said that a proposed reform being debated in parliament, which would replace imprisonment with fines of up to 50,000 euros, “does not meet the bare minimum of international and European standards of freedom of expression”.

The experts also warned about the mooted takeover of the AGI news agency by a group owned by a member of parliament with Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini’s far-right League party – a proposal that also triggered journalist strikes.

READ ALSO: How much control does Giorgia Meloni’s government have over Italian media?

Beatrice Chioccioli of the International Press Institute said it posed a “significant risk for the editorial independence” of the agency.

The so-called Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) consortium expressed disappointment that no member of Meloni’s coalition responded to requests to meet with them.

They said that, as things stand, Italy is likely to be in breach of a new EU media freedom law, introduced partly because of fears of deteriorating standards in countries such as Hungary and Poland.

Schroeder said next month’s European Parliament elections could be a “turning point”, warning that an increase in power of the far-right across the bloc “will have an influence also on media freedom”.

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