Brevi considerazioni a margine del protocollo d’intesa tra Italia e Albania in materia di migrazione

di Francesca Tammone

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione. – 2. Il Protocollo Italia-Albania nel quadro dell’”esternalizzazione delle frontiere”. – 3. L’ambito applicativo del Protocollo: 3.1. La natura giuridica dei centri di detenzione dei migranti; 3.2. La giurisdizione e la legge applicabile; 3.3. L’applicabilità del Protocollo ai «soggetti vulnerabili». – 4. L’incompatibilità del Protocollo con i diritti fondamentali, con particolare riguardo al diritto di accesso alla giustizia. – 5. Conclusioni.

This article consists of a prima facie commentary on the Italy-Albania Protocol, a deal on migration issues, concluded by Italy and Albania on 6^th November 2023. The agreement stipulates that Albania will make some areas of its territory available to Italy for the construction of two detention centres aimed at the processing of migrants’ international protection applications. Despite these centres will be located in Albania, they will be placed under Italian jurisdiction and financed by Italy.
At the time of writing, neither Italy nor Albania have ratified the agreement. However, on the one hand, the Protocol is currently under the scrutiny of the Albanian Constitutional Court; on the other hand, the Italian Government has submitted a draft for its ratification to the Parliament.
In this phase of uncertainty, this paper analyses the agreement and compares it with other instruments aimed at combating irregular migration in the context of the “externalisation of the borders”. Furthermore, it analyses some aspects of the agreement that appear to be in conflict with the fundamental rights of migrants.