Tajani: “The Italy-Albania protocol is an innovative solution for immigration”

Brussels – Italy is a model for managing the flow of asylum seekers. The European People’s Party (EPP) is convinced that the Italy-Albania protocol is “an innovative solution,” and, for this reason, “there is great attention” to an initiative that could be replicated. It is how Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani summarizes the thinking of the European center-right family on the sidelines of the work of the traditional EPP summit preceding the meeting of EU heads of state and government.

“We want to increase legal immigration and stop illegal immigration.” In that sense, Tajani continues, the Italy-Albania protocol is seen as the right way forward, so much so that “it is referenced in the end-of-session document” of the EPP EU leaders.

The decision is not surprising, given that the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also a member of the EPP, openly praised the Meloni government’s  management of migration flows, specifically the agreement between Rome and Tirana. An agreement that “is being followed with great interest,” the Italian foreign minister continued. 

The Meloni government is riding a wave of success and is taking the opportunity to try to convince her European partners to follow the ‘Italy model’ in an area that falls under purely national competence. Before the meeting of EU leaders, Meloni gathered her counterparts from Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, Cyprus, Poland, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Malta, and Slovakia, along with the European Commission, to discuss precisely immigration and “innovative solutions,” European sources say.

Italy seeks to capitalize on a moment that sees the government in Rome at the center of political debate. The situation is such that it tries to replicate what has been produced, even if there are critical elements, considering the concerns raised by the United Nations.

From the opposition comes criticism from PD Secretary Elly Schlein ,who says it is not an innovative solution. On the contrary, at the pre-summit meeting of the European Socialists (PSE), “I made it clear that this is an agreement that wastes 800 million euros to violate the fundamental right to seek asylum.” For the Dem member, “It is impossible to imagine choosing who, on a ship, is fragile, who is a minor, and who is not a minor.” Schlein then asks for an account of the first transfer of asylum seekers from Lampedusa to Albania. “Of 16 people to be transferred, four had to go back.” The incident, she reiterates, “is proof that this agreement violates fundamental rights and turns on those who save lives at sea.”