Meloni: with the new EU pact the centres in Albania will work

Ministers Antonio Tajani (Foreign Affairs), Matteo Piantedosi (Interior), Carlo Nordio (Justice), Guido Crosetto (Defence), Gilberto Pichetto Fratin (Environment), Alessandro Giuli (Culture), Orazio Schillaci (Health), Nello Musumeci (South), and Undersecretaries Federico Freni (Economy) and Tullio Ferrante (Infrastructure) will attend the intergovernmental agreement and working lunch. In addition to the ministers, the heads of the companies involved (Cdp, Simest, Sace, Leonardo) and of the Civil Protection will be present at the ceremony to exchange the agreements. Finally, Meloni and Rama will hold joint statements to the press.

Il primo ministro italiano Giorgia Meloni e il primo ministro albanese Edi Rama si stringono la mano prima del primo vertice intergovernativo tra Italia e Albania, a Villa Doria Pamphili, a Roma (Reuters)

During the bilateral, the two heads of government will talk not only about international crises, starting with Ukraine, but also about Rome's 'strong support' for the EU accession path that Tirana wants to conclude by 2030, now facing the last chapter of negotiations.

Italy is Albania's first trading partner, sharing crucial projects such as the European Corridor VIII and the three-way strategic partnership (with the Arab Emirates) in the renewables sector.

But it is the protocol on the management of migrants that is the main pact struck by Meloni and Rama, who come from different political families (she is conservative, he is socialist) and are linked by a feeling that has emerged on all international occasions, beyond the customary greeting on one knee that the Albanian premier reserves for his colleague. It is 'one of the innovative solutions in the field of migration, which is attracting increasing interest from both the European Commission and the member states', Italian sources point out.

Having become operational thirteen months ago, the centres in Albania have undergone various stops and bottlenecks imposed by the Italian courts, so today the hotspot at the port of Shengjin is practically closed and the Gjader cpr does not host migrants rescued in the Mediterranean but those moved from other cpr to Italian territory. They were "only 25" when a delegation of +Europa visited it at the end of October and "since the centre was opened, little more than 200 have been hosted", underlines Riccardo Magi. Numbers far from the 3,000 migrants per year initially estimated for the project that started with a cost of 650 million euros.

In the tables of the manoeuvre concerning the Ministry of the Interior, about 30 million (and 71 million in the three-year period) are foreseen for 2026, including the fund for the reimbursement of expenses incurred by Tirana, the purchase of vehicles, boats and aircraft "also for the purpose of studies, tests and experiments necessary for the execution of the Protocol", the expenses for the activation, rental and management of the centres, the computerisation of the judicial administration, the endowment of courtrooms in Albania, and technological equipment. The government, however, hopes that the scenario may change with the European reform of the Pact on Immigration and Asylum and with the EU-wide definition of safe countries. In recent days, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi clarified in an interview that the facility remains standing as 'a great investment in the logic of countering irregular immigration, because there we imagine doing something, starting from June next year, which is imposed on us by Europe, and that is to make accelerated border procedures for those seeking asylum'. Meanwhile, according to Viminale data, landings have more than halved, from 146,868 in 2023 to 61,482, albeit up from 58,668 last year.