Italy's lesson for the EU that nobody wants to hear
01 April 2025
The European Commission's newest migration proposal isn't exactly new: so-called "return hubs" in countries outside the EU are supposed to host migrants whose asylum requests have been denied.
Sound familiar? Because it is. Italy has already attempted this plan with 'outsourcing' migration: up to 3,000 migrants arriving via the Mediterranean route would be put into centres in Albania.
Just a few months later, Italy's plan became a total failure. Among many humanitarian issues, the centres go against EU migration law: the European Court of Justice repeatedly ruled against the plan, as migrants have a right to apply for asylum in the EU country they enter.
Now empty and at times even unstaffed, the EU's 'return hubs' would use the centres in Albania to host rejected asylum seekers – essentially rebranding the failed Italian migration plan into the EU's 'newest' migration strategy.
 | Benedetta Di Placido Besides criticism from groups in the European Parliament, calling the plan "unacceptable and shameful", the Commission could also face legal and ethical concerns. Under the Italian proposal, only adult men were supposed to be sent to the facilities. Italy violated that rule multiple times. Whether the EU's plan will be better remains to be seen, but recent evidence suggests that it's good to remain doubtful. EU-funded migrant detention centres in Greece hosted migrants with little to no access to water, basic sanitation and medical services. Until the plan becomes reality, Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni has new ideas for the empty centres in Albania: migrants who will be sent back to their countries of origin will remain in Albania until the transfer happens. A trial run for the EU's plan. Only migrants whose countries of origin are deemed safe are returned, but Meloni has been eager to expand that list for a while. |
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