Green light from the Chamber to the vote of confidence on the Albania decree

The Chamber of Deputies gave the green light to the confidence vote requested by the government on the Albania decree. There were 192 yes votes, 111 no votes and 4 abstentions. Now we move on to examining the agenda and the final vote on the measure is scheduled for tomorrow morning. The text is in first reading in the Chamber and will then have to go to the Senate for final approval

The Albania decree contains urgent provisions to combat irregular immigration. Specifically, the decree provides urgent provisions for the purpose of strengthening repatriation action: the provision extends the category of people who can be taken to facilities in Albania, the subject of the relevant Protocol of November 2023, to include those who are recipients of detention orders validated or extended. Before the new regulatory intervention, it was only possible to take to facilities in Albania people embarked on vessels of the Italian authorities outside the territorial sea of ​​the Republic or of other Member States of the European Union, including following rescue operations.

As a result of the amendment contained in the decree, it is expected that people subject to validated or extended detention orders may also be taken to facilities in Albania. In fact, the decree equates the facilities built in Albania to the corresponding facilities provided for by national legislation. That is, they are equated to hotspots. Only facilities intended for repatriation are equated to repatriation detention centers (CPR). Furthermore, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport is authorized to transfer two patrol boats free of charge to the Republic of Albania.

In the context of the procedure for the detention of the foreigner, the right to order the transfer of the same to another center is preserved, without the detention adopted being terminated and without a new validation being required. The failure to validate the detention measure against the applicant who submitted the application does not preclude the possible subsequent adoption of a detention measure, if the conditions are met. When this latter measure is adopted immediately or, in any case, no later than forty-eight hours after the communication of the failure to validate, the applicant remains in the center until the decision on the validation of the measure is made. The cases in which the accelerated procedure can be applied directly at the border or in transit zones are also modified.

Finally, the decree contains measures for the technical and logistical strengthening of repatriation detention centers: the faculty, for the location, construction, as well as the expansion and restoration of repatriation detention centers (CPR), to derogate from any provision of law other than criminal law is extended to 2026, without prejudice to compliance with the anti-mafia code and the mandatory constraints deriving from membership of the European Union.