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EU is "exporting" asylum outside Europe - Amnesty attacks Italy-Albania agreement

2026-08-20 13:20:53Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

EU is "exporting" asylum outside Europe - Amnesty attacks

Amnesty International is calling on the European Union to stop transferring responsibility for asylum outside its territory, in a report critical of Italy's controversial agreement with Albania to speed up the deportation of people deemed to come from "safe" countries.

But the organization's appeal, along with EU recommendations expected to be published later on Thursday (August 20), is likely to fall on deaf ears, as the European Commission is putting pressure on member states to further institutionalize what they have described as "innovative solutions" aimed at preventing the influx of asylum seekers into Europe.

Earlier this month, Magnus Brunner, the EU's migration commissioner, told MEPs that national governments should make use of expanded rules, known as "safe country concepts", with the aim of "asylum procedures now taking place outside the European Union".

He also suggested that plans to set up deportation centers outside the EU are distracting, noting that the safe country concept has essentially allowed Spain to expel almost all people who arrived in the Ceuta enclave and return them to Morocco, following the sudden arrival of around 80,000 people.

Related to this is the possibility of sending citizens seeking asylum to another country outside the EU, even if they have never set foot in that country before.

Amnesty: The concept of "safe country" endangers human rights

For Amnesty International and its report, the EU's concept of safe countries "inherently endangers human rights", as it denies people access to territorial asylum.

The organization has also accused Italy of relying on "authoritarian practices to avoid accountability," issuing a large number of decrees to bypass the courts, while also pointing out alleged abuses in Italian immigration centers in Albania.

During the April-May period of last year alone, there were at least two suicide attempts and various incidents of self-harm.

But last year the European Commission presented a list of "safe countries of origin", which included Kosovo, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Morocco and Tunisia, as well as the candidate countries for EU membership: Albania, Bosnia, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey.

This allows authorities to speed up the processing of asylum applications from people coming from these countries.

The European Parliament's lead negotiator for the concept of safe countries of origin was Alessandro Ciriani, an Italian MEP affiliated with the Brothers of Italy party, the political force led by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Italy-Albania agreement worth 680 million euros

The expanded rules were adopted at a critical moment for Italy's five-year, €680 million deal with Albania. Under the deal, only 74 people had been transferred directly from international waters to Albania between October 2024 and January 2025.

These transfers were stopped after Italian court decisions intervened.

The Court of First Instance in Rome also put a stop to the transfers, following a ruling based on a separate case from the Court of Justice of the European Union, which had determined that member states cannot designate only certain parts of a country of origin as safe.

With transfers to Albania suspended, Italy decided instead to use its facilities in Gjadra to detain asylum seekers whose asylum applications had been rejected while they awaited deportation.

The European Commission then changed the rules, allowing EU states to designate certain territorial areas as safe, under new EU asylum rules, which came into force in June.

It seems that now Italy would be allowed to return people to their countries anyway.

The changes were approved as Denmark held the six-month EU presidency, amid unfounded claims that such measures would eliminate incentives for people to undertake dangerous journeys to the EU.

However, Amnesty says these territorial exceptions do not give national authorities unlimited powers to force people to return to their countries, citing the judicial protection guaranteed by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. (EuObserver)


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