Whatever one may think of the repatriation centers in Albania wanted by the Meloni government, the decision of the European Council of Interior Ministers – which has imposed a crackdown on the EU’s migration policies – marks a point in favor of the Italian prime minister.

Giorgia Meloni had placed a lot of focus on a turning point on the subject of immigration at the time of the electoral campaign and everyone remembers the battle of the Brothers of Italy for the elusive “naval blockade”, which remained unimplemented because it was simply unworkable: a promise that ended up backfiring on the prime minister, as it became a symbol of the “I would like but I can’t” typical of those who say one thing and then do another. Meloni then ran for cover and invented the centers in Albania, stipulating an “innovative” agreement (as the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen defined it) with the Albanian prime minister Edi Rama, a socialist.

Will the centers in Albania restart? What happens after the EU crackdown on migrants

Much has been written about the centers in Albania, also due to the conflict that had broken out between the government and part of the Italian judiciary around their use. Once the centers were completed and the first migrants to be hosted there left Italy and then repatriated, the judges stopped, referring to the absence of precise European legislation regarding safe countries. The government had issued a subsequent decree to clarify things, but even this had not been enough and the use of the centers had once again been hampered by magistrates.

However, all this belongs to the past and the recent decision of the European Council has opened a new path. The measure is not yet operational because it will have to be confirmed by the European Parliament, where however there is a solid majority to approve it, and within a few months the last pieces will fall into place (we are talking about June 2026).

For Meloni this is an undoubted image success, given the offensive that the prime minister had to suffer from the opposition, ready to accuse her of the waste of resources on the one hand and the contempt for international law (and human rights) on the other. The satisfied words of the Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi after Brussels’ decision confirm Palazzo Chigi’s relief for a dossier that had started to get too hot and which, with the elections ever closer, could turn into a boomerang with irreversible negative effects.

Migrants, Meloni’s real problem

The turning point, however, is a harbinger of new unknowns, which may not all be positive for the centre-right. If anyone thinks that the commissioning of the Albanian centres, when it ever happens, can in fact solve all the problems of illegal immigration, they risk being greatly mistaken. It is a path (other European countries will try it, as for example the Netherlands is doing with a similar protocol with Uganda) which, more than preventing and managing arrivals, will serve (in the intentions) as a dissuasive element for those who want to embark, invest years’ savings and risk their lives in a crossing that could end not in Italy or another EU state, but in an Albanian detention centre.

The European crackdown, of which the definition of “safe country” and “safe third country” represent the cornerstones, intends to send a message above all to human traffickers. From then on, however, the road must still be traced with precision. The criticisms that have rained down on the European decision – from the opposition, but also from the CEI and NGO leaders – focus on the fact that many repatriation agreements with the countries of origin are still missing, that CPRs already exist in Italy which carry out the same function delegated to the Albanian centres, that many migrants come from insecure areas of countries defined as safe and that therefore there will be a flood of appeals that will swamp the courts.

In short, the legal and political battle seems only just beginning. The delegating bill that the government is preparing to make the EU law implementable is called upon to resolve many issues.

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