Italian Justice Minister Calo Nordio, speaking at a conference held in Palermo, Sicily, referred to yesterday’s decision court of Romeconcerning the return of twelve migrants from closed detention centers in Albania.
In particular, the Italian minister and close associate of the country’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, emphasized:
“When judges cross the line of their jurisdictions and believe they have powers that they cannot possess, such as declaring a country safe, politics, which expresses the popular will, must intervene. We give a voice to the people, if the people don’t agree with what we do, we go home. Judges – who are independent and autonomous – do not agree with anyone and therefore they cannot have powers, which are essentially and clearly political”.
The Italian minister added that “in relation to this entire case, legislative initiatives will be taken” and that “specific decisions run the risk of causing diplomatic incidents, because anyone who characterizes a friendly country like Morocco as insecure can cause problems.”
Judicial blockade of the Meloni plan to detain immigrants in Albania
A Rome court on Friday rejected orders to detain a group of migrants at reception centers in Albaniaasserting that they had the right to be taken to Italy, dealing a blow to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s plan to divert asylum seekers abroad.
Note that this week, a total of 16 migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean and taken to Albania by an Italian navy ship, becoming the first group of people to be accommodated in Jader’s new facilities after their details were processed in Sengin port.
Four of them have already been brought to Italy for health reasons or because they were recognized as minors.
“The refusal to validate the detentions in the Albanian structures and areas… is due to the inability to recognize the detainees’ countries of origin as safe countries,” said court president Luciana Sangiovanni, adding that the migrants had therefore “the right to be transferred to Italy.”
Arturo Salerni, a lawyer involved in the case, told Reuters the ruling also applies to the remaining 12 migrants.
Only migrants coming from a list of 22 countries and classified as safe can be sent to Albania. Egypt and Bangladesh are among them, but a recent ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on the matter has made it impossible to keep them in Albania, the statement said.
Ruling on a separate case involving the Czech Republic, the European Union’s Court of Justice said a country outside the bloc cannot be declared safe unless its entire territory is considered risk-free, narrowing the definition of what can be considered a safe country outside of EA.
“The detentions were not upheld in application of the principles binding on national courts and the administration itself, as set out in the recent ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union,” said court president Sangiovanni.