Italy-Albania Protocol: 500 euro ceiling for lawyers' and interpreters' travel expenses

The rules establishing the extent and conditions for the reimbursement of travel and subsistence expenses payable to lawyers and interpreters who travel to Albania to assist immigrants, within the framework of the Agreement between Italy and Albania, admitted to legal aid, are now operative.

The decree, issued by the Ministry of Justice, in agreement with the Ministry of the Economy and Finance, regulates travel to attend hearings, which lawyers are called upon to make when telematic participation is not possible or the postponement of the hearing is incompatible with the terms of the proceedings. For reimbursement there is a ceiling of EUR 500, which only covers documented expenses for transport, accommodation and food incurred during the trip.
The agreement "for the strengthening of cooperation in migration matters" between Prime Minister Edi Rama and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni envisages the possibility of sending asylum seekers and migrants intercepted in the Mediterranean Sea to Albania, and destined for accommodation centres, outsourced, but under Italian jurisdiction.
The expenses, to be quantified, for the travel of defenders and interpreters, are to be added to the 252 million needed for the travels of the ministry's officials; from the Dap personnel to the interforce.

Francesco Greco, president of the National Forensic Council, while appreciating the spirit of the decree, expresses more than one perplexity about its practical application "The text does not specify what the scope of legal aid is and legal aid is provided for both in criminal and civil or administrative proceedings. Certainly in the case of criminal proceedings, the deadlines are always very tight. Take for example,' says Greco, 'the crime of illegal immigration, there are only 14 days to appeal, but the same applies to terrorism or other crimes. The judge might realise three days before the hearing that the connection is not possible. It is really difficult that in such a short time a lawyer can leave, maybe other hearings, and fly to Albania, meet the client, etc.'. The same - concludes the number one of the CNF - applies to interpreters. Not to mention the figure for reimbursements, which is also rather limited. These are proceedings to be defined in a short time and therefore in Italy'..

The president of the Italian Criminal Chambers Union, Francesco Petrelli, starts from the expense limit set by the ministry decree. "Since it is a matter of protecting the effectiveness of the migrant's right of defence, in relation to the fundamental rights of the person, the ceiling set by the decree," Petrelli argues, "seems too modest. The 500 euro should cover the expenses incurred in travelling both in the national territory and abroad. But the meagreness of the reimbursements is not the only criticality highlighted by Petrelli: "The delocalisation of the detention areas of migrants for the verification of entry or permanence in the territory of the State is an insane practice - says the president of the criminalists - that constitutes in itself a violation of the right to defence by preventing a congruous contact with the defenders. With reference to asylum seekers there is then the risk of also violating the Union's rules and of creating many management problems both from a legal and an operational point of view'.

Also against the outsourcing of trials is the secretary of the Organismo congressuale forense Accursio Gallo. 'The expenditure ceiling defeats the right of defence,' argues Gallo, 'the reality is that trials must take place in Italy, with less expense and less risk of violating fundamental rights.