EU Lawmakers Denounced Lack of Transparency During Inspection of Italy’s Albanian Migration Hub

A delegation of European Parliament members reported on Monday that they were obstructed from conducting a comprehensive inspection of the Italian-managed migrant detention center in Gjadër, northwest Albania. The facility is the centerpiece of one of Europe’s most contentious offshore migration experiments.

“Today’s visit was profoundly disappointing and disgraceful. The staff created numerous obstacles for us,” stated Tineke Strik, a Greens/EFA MEP who participated in the visit.

The delegation also toured the processing facility at Shëngjin port, the initial point of disembarkation and screening for migrants intercepted by the Italian navy.

Under the Italy-Albania Protocol, ratified in 2024 following a November 2023 signing, the Shëngjin port facility handles the registration of individuals rescued at sea. Meanwhile, the Gjadër facility is tasked with processing asylum claims and detaining those awaiting repatriation after their applications are rejected. Italy maintains full legal jurisdiction and responsibility for assessing claims and resettling recognized refugees, with Italian personnel operating the site.

The program is restricted to adult men intercepted in international waters. This five-year agreement is estimated to cost Italy approximately €160 million ($185 million) annually.

MEP Strik noted that the delegation was denied access to detention areas and provided with no operational data. “We were not given any information, our questions remained unanswered, and we were prohibited from entering the cells to assess the living conditions,” she explained.

Strik further highlighted the plight of the detainees, warning that those she spoke with experienced significant difficulties in seeking asylum and felt trapped within a “failed system.”

Albania’s Interior Ministry has previously clarified that while the Gjadër center is treated as Italian territory, Albanian police are responsible exclusively for the facility’s perimeter security.

A Scheme Defined by Legal and Logistical Hurdles

The blocked visit is the latest setback for the centers. By mid-2025, the facilities held only a few dozen individuals, falling far short of the initial target of 3,000 per month. Furthermore, a study by an Italian university revealed that each spot in Albania cost over €153,000 to establish—vastly more than the €21,000 cost for similar centers in Sicily.

Italian courts have frequently blocked transfers, ruling that countries such as Egypt and Bangladesh cannot be classified as “safe” under EU law. In August 2025, the European Court of Justice issued a landmark ruling regarding how member states designate safe countries of origin, dealing a significant blow to the offshore processing model.

While Gjadër was originally designed as both an asylum processing and pre-return center, legal challenges forced a shift in its purpose. It now serves primarily as a detention center for those ordered for deportation; as of mid-June 2026, it had held roughly 620 people since this repurposing.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which visited the site earlier this month, warned against using the facility as a blueprint for EU policy. Detainees reported unaddressed mental health crises and severe isolation, noting that phones are confiscated upon arrival, leaving them unable to contact family or access critical information.

A Shifting Legal Framework

This visit occurs during a critical transition in European migration policy. On June 1, EU member states and the European Parliament agreed upon a controversial new Return Regulation—the bloc’s most stringent policy shift in decades—which enables the creation of “return hubs” outside the EU. The legislation was formally adopted on June 17 with a vote of 418 to 218.

While this legislative shift may remove some of the legal barriers hindering the Italy-Albania scheme, critics argue it codifies the systemic failures witnessed by the delegation. “The finalized text is the result of a shameful agreement; the legal arsenal for a xenophobic ideology is now complete,” said Greens/EFA MEP Mélissa Camara.

Simultaneously, the Council of Europe adopted a declaration in Chișinău in May that reinterprets Articles 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni welcomed this move as international validation of the “innovative solutions” established by the Rome-Tirana agreement.

While neither government has released official data, several new arrivals have been recorded at the Albanian facilities in recent weeks.

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