Despite a defeat in court, Italy’s Prime Minister is not giving up. Your right-wing government now wants to readjust its plans for examining asylum applications outside the EU.
Despite a legal defeat, Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is sticking to plans to examine asylum applications from Mediterranean refugees outside the EU. By order of a court in Rome, twelve migrants whose applications were supposed to be decided in Albania must be brought to Italy this Saturday. The government announced that it would appeal the decision. There will be a special cabinet meeting on Monday. Italy is the first EU country to want to accommodate refugees in camps abroad.
The court justified its decision by saying that the twelve men came from countries that were not safe countries of origin. They come from Egypt and Bangladesh. Meloni then announced that she would have her coalition of three right-wing parties adopt further regulations. “I don’t think it’s up to the judiciary to decide which countries are safe, it’s the government’s job,” said the leader of the right-wing party Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy).
With a navy ship from Albania to Italy
The twelve men are now being taken from Albania across the Adriatic to the southern Italian port city of Bari on an Italian coast guard ship. They were part of an initial group of 16 migrants who were apprehended by the Italian authorities while fleeing across the Mediterranean. Four of the migrants have already been allowed to continue to Italy because they are minors or have significant health problems.
The opposition has already described Meloni’s plans to have decisions made on asylum applications outside Italy and the EU in the future as a failure.
In Albania, their applications are to be examined by Italian officials in a fast-track procedure: those who are entitled to asylum can continue to Italy. Everyone else has to go back. The camps should be able to accommodate up to 3,000 asylum seekers at the same time.
However, only adult men from countries of origin that are classified as safe should be admitted. The regulation does not apply to children, women, the sick and victims of torture – they can go straight on to Italy. The controversial Italian project is being followed closely by other EU states.
Source: Stern
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