失敗 意大利放棄 驅逐尋求庇護者

意大利開始從阿爾巴尼亞離岸庇護中心撤出工作人員

https://www.forbes.com/sites/freylindsay/2024/11/26/italy-begins-withdrawing-staff-from-albania-offshore-asylum-centers/

Frey Lindsay 高級撰稿人 2024 年 11 月 26 日

阿爾巴尼亞離岸處理中心的幾座建築物視圖阿爾巴尼亞正在建設中的離岸處理中心。

據報道，意大利政府已開始從阿爾巴尼亞的離岸庇護處理中心撤出工作人員，此前意大利法院曾多次試圖在那裏處理人們的申請，但均被駁回。這些中心背後價值數百萬美元的計劃受到質疑，意大利將於 12 月舉行聽證會，以決定該計劃背後的根本理由是否有效。

阿爾巴尼亞計劃已經醞釀多年。該計劃是總理喬治亞·梅洛尼內閣的創意，旨在攔截試圖通過海路抵達歐洲的人（其中大多數人抵達意大利海岸），並將他們送往阿爾巴尼亞專門建造的中心處理他們的庇護申請。該計劃的目的是阻止人們進入意大利和歐洲，通過讓他們實際上不踏上意大利領土，理論上它允許當局繞過歐盟的庇護和人權立法，從而更容易將人們遣返回原籍國。

該計劃於 10 月啟動，梅洛尼政府表示，該計劃每月可以處理數千名尋求庇護者，五年內花費約 7.2 億美元。該計劃立即遇到了障礙。第一批被送往阿爾巴尼亞的尋求庇護者——幾十人，主要來自孟加拉國和埃及——在意大利法官宣布他們不能在海外處理後，被迅速送回意大利。

問題是意大利是否被允許決定哪些國家足夠安全，可以將人們送回。雖然意大利保留了自己的“安全”國家名單，但歐洲法院的一項裁決阻礙了這一決定，意大利法官目前有權自行決定。

到目前為止，還沒有人在阿爾巴尼亞根據該計劃接受處理，盡管意大利政府盡最大努力繞過“安全國家”障礙，但法律挑戰似乎對該計劃的繼續存在至關重要。意大利最高法院預計將於 12 月初作出裁決，決定意大利法官是否將繼續擁有他們現在的自由裁量權。

與此同時，據報道，阿爾巴尼亞處理中心的工作人員正在撤出，但意大利政府堅持該計劃仍在實施。預計少數工作人員將留在中心。如果該計劃因法律挑戰而永久受阻，尚不清楚這些中心會發生什麽——更不用說已經承諾的 7.2 億美元了。

歐盟許多人認為意大利的計劃是一種試點項目，旨在了解離岸處理是否是政府限製非正常入境人數的可能途徑。英國也嚐試過類似的計劃，同樣耗資數億美元，但在 7 月，即將上任的工黨政府在處理完一個人之前就放棄了該計劃。盡管如此，英國首相已表示對意大利的計劃感興趣，德國目前正在考慮離岸處理計劃，據報道，歐盟委員會本身也在考慮。

弗雷·林賽
我寫關於移民、發展、歐盟/英國經濟以及它們如何相互交織的文章。在 Twitter 上關注我 @FreyLindsayMCP，或者給我發電子郵件：[e-mail]

Italy Begins Withdrawing Staff From Albania Offshore Asylum Centers

https://www.forbes.com/sites/freylindsay/2024/11/26/italy-begins-withdrawing-staff-from-albania-offshore-asylum-centers/

Frey Lindsay Senior Contributor  Nov 26, 2024

Offshore processing centres, under construction in Albania. (Photo by Olsi Shehu/Anadolu via Getty 

The Italian government has reportedly begun withdrawing staff from offshore asylum processing centers in Albania, after several attempts to process people’s applications there were struck down by Italian courts. The multi-million dollar scheme behind the centers is in question, with a hearing in December to decide whether Italy’s underlying justification for the scheme is valid.

The Albania scheme has been a number of years in the making. The brainchild of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s cabinet, it aims to intercept people trying to reach Europe via sea - the majority of whom arrive on Italian shores - and send them to specially-built centers in Albania to have their asylum claims processed. The point of the scheme is to keep people out of Italy and Europe, and by having them not actually set foot on Italian territory, in theory it allows authorities to side-step EU asylum and human rights legislation, making it easier to deport people back to their countries of origin.

The scheme launched in October, with Meloni’s government stating it could process thousands of asylum seekers per month, at a cost of around $720 million over five years. It immediately hit roadblocks. The first groups of asylum seekers sent to Albania - several dozen people mostly from Bangladesh and Egypt - were swiftly sent back to Italy after Italian judges declared they could not be processed offshore.

The issue is whether or not Italy is allowed to decide which countries are safe enough to send people back to. While Italy maintains its own list of ‘safe’ countries, a European Court of Justice ruling stands in the way of that, and Italian judges currently have the discretion to decide for themselves.

So far no person has been processed in Albania under this scheme and the legal challenges appear existential to it continuing at all, despite the Italian government doing its best to get around the ‘safe country’ obstacle. A ruling from Italy’s highest court is expected in early December to decide whether or not Italian judges will continue to hold the discretion they have now.

 

In the meantime, it has been reported that staff are being withdrawn from the processing centers in Albania, though the Italian government insists the scheme remains in operation. A handful of staff are expected to remain in the centers. It is not clear what will happen to the centers - not to mention the $720 million dollars already pledged - if the scheme is permanently blocked by legal challenge.

Italy’s scheme is seen by many in the EU as a sort of pilot project to see if offshore processing is a possible avenue for governments to limit the amount of people arriving irregularly. The United Kingdom attempted a similar scheme, also costing hundreds of millions of dollars, but that was scrapped by the incoming Labor government in July before it had processed a single person. Nonetheless, the U.K.’s Prime Minister has expressed interest in Italy’s scheme and offshore processing schemes are currently being considered by Germany and reportedly by the European Commission itself.

 

Frey Lindsay

I write about migration, development, EU/UK economies and how they all intersect. Follow me on twitter @FreyLindsayMCP, or email me on [e-mail]