Immigration: EU embraces the ‘Meloni line’: ‘Consider alternative ways to counter irregular migration’

Brussels – Giorgia Meloni does not have the time to meet the press and claim the results of a summit of heads of state and government that rewards the Italian line due to the institutional agenda that wants her in Jordan tomorrow morning (Oct. 18); however, the head of government leaves Brussels aware that in the never simple immigration dossier, she garnered the appreciation of European partners. “New ways to prevent and counter irregular migration should be considered,” according to end-of-summit conclusions. An implicit acknowledgment that the Italy-Albania protocol for which, however, the government in Rome has already won European praise.

Of course, the same conclusions state that new methods of managing the flow of migrants, in addition to the EU’s immigration and asylum pact, must still be “in line with international and EU law.” However, there is no doubt that, in the end, the Italian premier successfully transformed an initiative that has been purely national for now into a European one.

Looking through the final statement of the EU leaders on the ‘immigration’ chapter, the only novelty is recognizing that national governments can act autonomously, in addition to shared arrangements, to better assist the EU in dealing with asylum seekers who do not meet the criteria to apply because they fall outside regular channels and procedures.

The rest is a reminder of long-stated principles: the need to step up returns efforts, the need to work on the so-called ‘external dimension’ of migration, and thus the pursuit of agreements with states of origin and transit to keep non-EU nationals from leaving for Europe; “the importance of implementing adopted and existing European legislation” and thus the new immigration and asylum pact that will go into effect in June 2026 and the Dublin Regulation in force up to that point.

The Italy-Albania protocol, not explicitly mentioned in the end-of-summit conclusions, stands out on the 12-star political agenda as a model ready to be followed, imitated, and replicated. Giorgia Meloni gets what she wanted: to carve out room to maneuver on a hot topic for the governing majority and its coalition parties and to be able to say she played a leading role.