Migration: outsourcing asylum procedures? Italy’s “Albania model” before Eugh

The Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) commented on this Friday (10 a.m.) for the first time of the Italian “Albania model”. The government’s prestige project under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who wants to enable accelerated asylum procedures abroad, is controversial. What is the importance of the upcoming decision of the highest European court? The most important questions and answers:

What does the court decide?

The process is about the conditions under which EU member states can classify countries as so-called safe countries of origin. In the specific case, Italy determined, among other things, Bangladesh as a safe state of origin. The highest European court should now clarify the conditions under which Member States can make such a classification according to EU law. The question is, for example, whether a country as a whole can be classified as safe under EU law, even if it is not safe for certain groups – such as homosexual people.

What does the judgment mean for Germany?

The Federal Republic also has a list of safe countries of origin. In addition to the EU member states, it includes the Western Balkans countries as well as Georgia, Ghana, Moldova and Senegal. “The judgment is also groundbreaking for Germany, because the European requirements for the classification of safe countries of origin also apply here,” says migration law expert Pauline Endres de Oliveira.

What do the country lists have to do with the “Albania model”?

The determination of safe countries of origin is a basic requirement for the implementation of the “Albania model”. The background is that the EU member states can check the protection status in people who come from so-called safe countries of origin in a quick procedure. Italy wants to carry out such procedures outside the EU, specifically in Albania. The ECJ therefore clarifies a partial question of the model and contains framework conditions for the examination of asylum applications from Mediterranean refugees outside the EU.

According to the right-wing expert Endres de Oliveira, it is unclear whether and how it can continue with the “Albania model” after the decision with the “Albania model”. “There are still numerous legal issues that” stand in the room at the “Italy-Albania model”, explains the professor of the Humboldt University in Berlin. For example, whether the planned accommodation of asylum seekers in such centers is legally equivalent to a detention. That would be problematic, because under international law nobody should be detained without a legal reason – and an asylum application is not a reason for detention.

How does the Italian model work exactly?

Italy has concluded an agreement with Albania about the examination of asylum applications on Albanian territory, but according to Italian law. For this purpose, two camps in Albania were built in which Italian officials are to decide on asylum applications from migrants who were stopped on the way to Europe on the Mediterranean. However, this only affects migrants who come from so -called safe countries of origin and who are of legal age and male – women and minors are excluded. During the application test, applicants should not leave the camps in Albania. You can only go to Italy if your asylum application is successful.

The model has not worked so far: the Italian judiciary stopped the right -wing government coalition’s plans.

What is currently happening with the camps in Albania?

After the defeats in front of Italian courts, Meloni’s coalition adopted a new decree in March, according to which rejected asylum seekers can be accommodated in Albania while waiting for the deportation. In doing so, she expanded the option of the camps. In April, asylum seekers rejected for the first time were transferred to the facility in Gjader northern Albanian.

In front of it, the facilities were mostly empty and were mainly used by officials. Since the introduction of the new usage option, around 110 people have passed the centers by the end of June since June. So far, the Ministry of the Interior has not answered the request of how many people are currently in the facilities.

How does the EU feel the model?

The Italian Agreement with Albania was carefully pursued in several EU countries-not least because some governments could imagine similar models. Denmark, for example, showed interest in asylum procedures in third countries early on.

The large EU asylum reform does not conflict with this. It defines criteria for safe states and affects provisions on asylum procedures in third countries, but wants to legally handle the procedures somewhat differently than the “Albania model”.

In addition, the European Commission proposed an EU list of safe countries of origin in April. Asylum procedures should therefore become faster for applicants from Kosovo, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Morocco and Tunisia. The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union still have to agree to the proposal.

What does the German government say?

Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) was generally open to the corresponding models. Despite the experience in Italy, the outsourcing of asylum procedures will be examined, he said in May when you visited Rome. According to a report that the Federal Ministry of the Interior presented this year under the then Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD), a outsourcing of asylum procedures in countries outside the EU would be practically not so easy to implement.

The black and red cabinet recently brought a reform on the way to be able to determine safe countries of origin by regulation – without the participation of the parliament and the Federal Council.

What is the difference between returning centers?

Several EU countries are currently talking about the idea of accommodating asylum seekers in third countries outside of Europe – in so -called return centers. Germany’s interior minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) recently confirmed this goal. The EU Commission has proposed a law that the EU countries and the parliament still have to negotiate. According to the original “Albania model”, the application test abroad should take place.