In a stunning revelation, the highly-touted €1 billion plan by Italy to outsource migrant processing to Albania has collapsed, with detention centers lying vacant except for stray dogs adopted by Italian personnel stationed there. The fiasco has left the government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni scrambling for answers as domestic criticism mounts over the squandered funds.
Grand Vision Meets Legal Reality
Unveiled in October to great fanfare, the scheme envisioned shuttling up to 3,000 asylum seekers per month from Italy to processing centers in Albania, to be overseen by a deployment of Italian police. However, the plan rapidly unraveled as Italian courts ruled it unlawful to hold intercepted migrants in a non-EU country prior to repatriating them to their points of origin.
In practice, a mere 24 individuals ever set foot in the Albanian facilities. Five remained less than half a day, while the remainder were held for just over two days before being returned to Italy. The vacant centers now serve as vacation resorts for the rotating guard staff.
We came here for work… but there are no migrants in the facilities, they have been transferred to Italy. It’s just us here. We are paid to act as tourists: breakfast, dinner, and sauna, all free.
Italian police officer stationed in Albania, to undercover journalists
Stray Dogs Find Shelter as Humans Are Shut Out
In a surreal twist, the most occupied migrant center, in the city of Gjadër, has been converted into a makeshift dog shelter. The 15 prison officers deployed there have taken to caring for stray canines, providing food, medical attention and companionship in lieu of overseeing asylum seekers.
The prison officers have attended the dogs’ needs with love and patience, ensuring them food, water, daily medical care, and above all, a safe and affectionate environment.
Report from Italian daily Domani
Costs Balloon as Results Prove Elusive
Opposition figures have blasted the Albanian arrangement as a “complete failure” and “financial disaster,” pointing to the exorbitant €250,000 spent to transport just eight migrants by navy vessel in the early days of the program – equivalent to over €31,000 per person.
With Italy grappling to balance its budget and slashing domestic spending on education, healthcare and welfare, the prospect of funneling €1 billion to Albania over five years for empty facilities has provoked outrage. Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi pulled no punches in his assessment:
The Albania migration’s deal is one of the biggest farces in our history. It cost one billion euros, and it is serving as dog shelter.
Matteo Renzi, leader of opposition Italia Viva party
Meloni Remains Defiant as Walls Close In
For her part, Prime Minister Meloni has staked significant political capital on the Albanian gambit, with immigration control a central plank of her far-right coalition. In the face of legal obstacles and mushrooming expenditures, she has doubled down on the plan.
The centres for migrants in Albania will work, even if I have to spend every night there from now until the end of the [term of the] Italian government.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
As Meloni’s government seeks to chart a path forward, it finds itself boxed in by fiscal realities, humanitarian obligations, and a restless electorate. Having lambasted previous administrations for their handling of migration at great cost, the prime minister now grapples with a quagmire of her own making. With each passing day, the Albanian debacle threatens to become an enduring emblem of ill-conceived policy and squandered resources – a stray dogs’ home built on a foundation of hubris.
