Italy's Albania migrant centre blocks EU inspection
A delegation of MEPs was denied access to Italy's offshore detention facility in Albania, exposing the operational dysfunction of a €160m-a-year model the EU recently adopted as a blueprint.
A delegation of MEPs was prevented from carrying out a full inspection of Italy's offshore migrant detention centre in Gjadër, Albania on Monday. "We didn't get any data, they didn't answer any questions, and we were not allowed to really go into the cells and see what the situation is like," said Greens/EFA MEP Tineke Strik. "Today's visit was very disappointing and disgraceful. The staff really created a lot of obstacles for us," she added.
The lack of transparency is rooted in the facility's unusual legal status. Under the 2023 Italy-Albania Protocol, Gjadër operates as Italian territory, with Albanian police handling only perimeter security. The five-year scheme applies exclusively to adult men intercepted by Italian vessels and costs Rome around €160 million annually.
Despite this heavy financial commitment, the centres have severely underperformed. By mid-2025, they held only a few dozen people against an original target of 3,000 per month. An Italian university study found each place in Albania cost over €153,000 to set up, more than seven times the €21,000 cost of similar facilities in Sicily.
Italian courts repeatedly blocked transfers, ruling nations like Bangladesh and Egypt could not be deemed uniformly safe under EU law. This forced Gjadër to abandon asylum processing and operate solely as a pre-return detention centre, holding roughly 620 people since mid-June 2026. The International Rescue Committee has warned of severe mental health issues among detainees, who are stripped of phones and cut off from the outside world.
The controversy comes just weeks after the European Parliament adopted a new Return Regulation on 17 June by 418 votes to 218. This legislation paves the way for offshore "return hubs" across the bloc, effectively exporting the Albania model. "The text finalised today is the result of a shameful agreement: the legal arsenal serving a xenophobic ideology is now complete," said Greens/EFA MEP Mélissa Camara.
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has hailed a recent Council of Europe declaration as validation of her approach. Yet as new arrivals quietly enter the Albanian facilities without official figures being released, Monday's blocked inspection raises urgent questions about the accountability of a system Europe is now preparing to replicate.
