Italy’s super expensive migration failure

1. IT’S INHUMANE
The detention centre might be all shiny and new, it still looks like a prison. And that’s what it is. High walls and fences, guards everywhere, hardly room to breathe. Migrants there would see no green except for the concrete courtyard conveniently painted that colour. It’s a real disgrace! And it’s against the core principles of Human Rights. People are supposed to be shipped back and forth across the Adriatic against their will and held captive far away from the eyes of civil society. But the worst thing is: Human beings are being abused in this political game, just so Meloni can pretend she’s outsourcing a national “problem”. And this is a lie.

2. MIGRANTS ARE STILL IN ITALY Technically, all people shipped to Albania remain under Italian jurisdiction the whole time. They are brought over from Italian ports on Italian ships. After landing, there is a 10 meter strip where theoretically they could apply for asylum in Albania before being bussed to the centres where, again, they are under Italian supervision. If they are granted asylum, they will be shipped back. If not, most likely too. Because any returns will also happen via Italy. The guards in the centre are Italian, the doctors are Italian, the cooks – it just like a small colony across the water. So nothing is being outsourced here. It’s just one big expensive propaganda stunt.

3. IT’S SHADY AS HELL Yet, the Italian government presents their “solution” as the best idea ever and a great blueprint for everyone. But they don’t want anyone to know what exactly is happening in the detention centres. While access was quite easy for us as MEPs, press is not welcome there. We spoke to some Italian and Albanian journalists who have been covering this whole thing and none was ever allowed to enter. We were even told we couldn’t bring any journalists with our delegation. One tried to sneak in with us, but her name is already blacklisted with the authorities there. This is also why there’s hardly any photos or footage from inside. What are they trying to hide? If these centres are supposed to be modern, legal and humane, why would the government try and keep them a secret? Something clearly doesn’t add up here.

4. IT’S ILLEGAL When we visited, there were luckily no migrants to be seen in the centre. That is because Italy is no longer allowed to ship anyone there. There have been two court rulings deeming this whole idea illegal under Italian law and ordering government to bring back the few they had already brought there. So basically, it’s over for Meloni. Shortly after we visited, even the staff left Albania and went back home. Now there’s brand new crazily expensive detention centres sitting in the countryside that are totally empty.

DEBUNKING THE POPULISTS So what is my conclusion? It’s very simple: These detention centres don’t work. Just as the British government’s Rwanda Plan, this idea is insane, it failed, and it’s not scalable in any way. I can’t understand why other governments in Europe are still pretending Meloni found a great solution here. If they still want to copy this, they will run into the same problems and spend more money for nothing.

Money that should really be used elsewhere. We’re talking of roughly 1 Billion Euros (!) of Italian taxpayer’s money that has already gone to waste. What could the country have done with that! Improving conditions for migrants there, boosting integration, making an actual impact! They could even have built better reception centres for migrants on Italian soil and still saved money. But hey, maybe that’s not populist enough? My impression after seeing this debacle is that Meloni’s government prefers to lie to their own people and Europe as a whole. And people want to be lied to apparently, because this idea is now spreading across Europe. We mustn’t let that happen.

That’s why Volt went there. To debunk the narratives and bring back actual evidence of what is happening. We have to be very clear: If we want good solutions to handle migration and asylum, we will have to work together, we will have to respect the law and human dignity, and we cannot let the populists get away with their so-called “simple” fixes. 

Yours,

Damian