The transfer of migrants intercepted in Italian waters to the centres set up by Italy in Albania in 2024 has just resumed, Euronews reported on Sunday 26 January.
According to the website, quoting a memo from the Italian government, 49 foreign nationals were taken on board the Cassiopea off the island of Lampedusa and transferred to centres in Albania. The migrants on board the ship must all be adult males who are in good mental and physical health and are from safe countries. The ship will transfer them to the Italian hotspot in the port of Shengjin and, after identification procedures, the asylum seekers will be transferred to the Gjader centre. Last November, the model of outsourcing the reception and repatriation of migrants was blocked for the second time by the Civil Court of Rome, with the suspension of the detention in Albania of seven migrants from Egypt and Bangladesh.
To avoid another deadlock, Giorgia Meloni’s government has approved a decree-law containing an updated but reduced list of safe third countries. The law came into force on 11 January. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)