A first group of migrants was heading
Friday to a centre in Albania that has been repurposed to a stay
and repatriation centre (CPR) after its original purpose, as a
processing and repatriation centre for migrants picked up at
sea, was stymied by court rulings.
The CPR at Gjader had been hailed as part of an innovative but
controversial offshore processing scheme that had drawn praise
from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and
several expressions of interest from other EU countries.
The Navy ship Libra left Brindisi with 40 migrants on board
destined for Gjader.
They are citizens of various nationalities who in recent days
arrived at a CPR in Brindisi, at Restinco, and for whom the
Italian government has ordered their transfer to the facility in
Albania.
This decision came after the approval of the decree of March 28
that allows the transfer not only of asylum seekers intercepted
at sea, but also of irregular immigrants to whom the police
commissioner has delivered an expulsion decree and a judge has
validated their stay in a CPR.
The government is still hoping to revive its original Albania
processing scheme for migrants intercepted at sea, serving as a
deterrent against departures.
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