It costs a billion, and it serves as an asylum for dogs

When Italy opened migrant centers in Albania in October, the plan was clear: 3,000 people a month intercepted in Italian waters were to be processed for asylum outside Italy’s borders, under the supervision of Italian police.

Two months later, Albanian journalists who presented themselves as tourists found some of those police officers staying in a luxury hotel with a swimming pool and a spa center in Shenjin, the Albanian port where the migrant center is located, “The Guardian” writes.

“We came here for work, we are securing the migrant center … but there are no migrants in the facilities, they have been transferred to Italy”, the police officers told the journalists of Piranjat TV. “It’s just us here. We are paid to act like tourists: breakfast, dinner and sauna, all free – paid by the Italian government”.

“The Guardian” writes that the facilities in Šenđin where they were sent to work are empty.

The paper said that what the European Commission presented as a new model for detaining migrants outside the EU’s borders failed as Italian courts ruled that it was illegal to detain people intercepted at sea in Albania before being returned to countries such as Bangladesh and Egypt, which Rome considers “safe”.

Only 24 asylum seekers were sent to Albania, and none of them are there anymore. Five spent less than 12 hours in the reception center, while the others stayed a little more than 48 hours, according to “The Guardian”.

At a time when Italy is struggling to balance its budget, cutting funds for education, health and social security, opposition parties have called the agreement between Rome and Tirana, which will cost around one billion euros over five years, a “financial disaster”.

The Italian police officers who were secretly filmed by Albanian television are among the few who remained in Albania. In November, around 50 police officers, along with dozens of social workers, were returned home after it was discovered that the facilities were empty.

At the end of November, the national daily “Domani” revealed that in an Albanian reception center in Đadero, intended for asylum seekers, there were stray dogs. They were adopted by 15 guards stationed there. “Prison guards lovingly and patiently cared for the dogs, providing them with food, water, daily medical care and, above all, a safe and caring environment,” the newspaper reported after visiting the center.

The Italian government’s embarrassment over the plan, which opposition parties attacked as a “complete failure”, has sparked a clash between the authorities and judges, who far-right parties have accused of obstructing the project after upholding a European Court of Justice ruling on October 4 that the country outside the EU it cannot be declared safe unless its entire territory is assessed as safe.

Several months before the agreement was signed by Italian Prime Minister Đorđa Meloni and her Albanian counterpart Edi Rama, numerous NGOs, academics and experts expressed doubts about whether it could be considered humane or even legal under international law.

At a time when Italy is struggling to balance its budget, cutting funding for education, health and social security, opposition parties have called the deal between Rome and Tirana a financial disaster.

“The Guardian” recalls that several European countries proposed solutions similar to the agreement between Italy and Albania from 1993, but their proposals were rejected.

Italy has indicated that the initiative is on hold until it finds a solution that does not violate international humanitarian law.

“The centers for migrants in Albania will work, even if I have to be there every night until the end of the (term of) the Italian government,” Meloni insisted.

The British newspaper writes that the Prime Minister’s credibility is at stake because her government has made immigration a central theme of the campaign and criticized predecessors for spending public money on managing the migrant crisis. (It cost 250,000 euros to transport eight men on an Italian army ship to Albania – more than 31,000 euros per person.)

“Why should we throw away Italian citizens’ money like this? Why leave police officers on vacation in Albania when we need them in our cities?” asked Matteo Renzi, leader of the opposition party Italia Viva and former prime minister, proposing that Albanian prisoners in Italy be transferred to facilities in Albania.

“The migration agreement with Albania is one of the biggest farces in our history,” he added. “It cost a billion euros, and it serves as an asylum for dogs.”

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