The issue of listing which countries
are safe to repatriate migrants is crucial to migration
policies, Premier Giorgia Meloni said in joint statements with
visiting Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson ahead of an
end-May-start-of-June European Court of Justice ruling on an
issue that has so far stymied Italy's innovative but
controversial protocol with Albania to process migrants in the
non-EU country.
"I want to thank Ulf for the work we do together to develop
innovative solutions, and also because Sweden is one of the
nations that are supporting the position of the Italian
government before the European Court of Justice on the issue of
safe countries," Meloni said.
"And also because it supports the Italy-Albania protocol because
the issue of safe countries is crucial, not only for Italy, not
only for the Italy-Albania protocol: it is crucial to be able to
carry forward a more effective European policy on migrants".
The Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is
set to present on April 10 the conclusions of the joint legal
cases regarding the protocol between Italy and Albania for the
fast-track processing of asylum seekers at Italian-run centres
in the non-EU country and the definition of safe countries for
repatriation, ANSA learned on Tuesday.
Judges at the Luxembourg-based court are then set to decide the
case within the following month. A sentence is expected between
the end of May and the beginning of June, ANSA has learned.
Italian judges have so far refused to validate the detention of
the first three groups of asylum seekers taken to Albania back
in October and November as well as last month, referring their
cases to the European Court of Justice - which had established
on October 4 that an applicant could not go through a fast-track
procedure that could lead to their repatriation if their country
of provenance was not deemed wholly safe.
The countries of origin in the cases, Bangladesh and Egypt, were
not judged to be entirely safe across their territory and for
all categories of citizens.
The government has tried to get around this hurdle with a
measure listing 19 safe countries for repatriation.
They included both Bangladesh and Egypt.
However, after the decree was approved in December, Italian
judges asked the ECJ which parameter should be used when
determining safety and whether the principle of the primacy of
EU law should prevail if a conflict arises with Italian
legislation.
While provisionally asserting the primacy of Italian ministers
on deciding safe countries for migrant repatriation from the new
processing centres in Albania, the supreme Court of Cassation in
December said the matter must await the ruling expected by the
European Court of Justice.
The European Commission is backing Italy in its protocol with
Albania to process migrants in the non-EU country and thus deter
departures, Internal Affairs and Migration Commissioner Magnus
Brunner told ANSA last week, stressing the importance of finding
new approaches that work in practice.
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