The Italian lower house of parliament has approved the agreement between Italy and Albania to set up migrant reception centres on the latter’s territory.
The bill was approved with 155 votes in favour, 115 votes against and two abstentions, and the approval means that Italy will now build two migrant reception centres in Albania that will process asylum applications of migrants who get rescued at sea by Italian authorities.
While the majority welcomed the agreement, there were a number of members of parliament who were concerned, saying that this project might violate human rights laws.
Some others were also concerned about the price of the project as in line with the reached agreement, two centres will be opened in Albania. These centres are expected to accommodate around 3,000 rescued migrants.
As ANSA explains, the first centre will be used to identify the migrants. As for the second centre, it was revealed that it would be smaller in size and will be built in Shengjin port.
The same noted that the building of these two migrant centres in Albania will cost Italy millions. It is estimated that the cost of the two centres will be around €675 million.
The payments for the centres will not be made all at the same time. The first payments, which start at €142 million, will be made this year. An additional €125 million will be paid until 2029, and around €7.3 million will be paid in the final years of the agreement between the two countries.
Before the agreement was reached, the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, said that the two centres would have the capacity to host up to 36,000 million people. She further stressed that the entire number of applications would be processed within a year.
However, the new migration decree now has set the time limit for assessing asylum applications to 18 months instead of the previous 12, meaning that the centres will no longer have this capacity per year.
As the Italian government has explained, in cases when it is assessed that a migrant has the right to international protection, they will be transported to Italy.
On the other hand, those whose asylum applications get rejected will be deported to their home countries.
Regarding vulnerable migrants, including pregnant women, unaccompanied minors, and disabled individuals, among others, the Italian government stressed that they would not be sent to the centres in Albania. These groups of migrants will be able to remain in centres in Italy and have their cases assessed in the country.
