The immigration section of Rome’s tribunal on Monday referred the second Albania migrants’ case to the European Court of Justice, halting the validation of their detention.
The Rome court postponed judgment on their detention pending the European Court of Justice‘s ruling. The seven migrants, from Egypt and Bangladesh, must leave Albania’s Gjader centre within 48 hours if the court does not confirm the detention validation. The Libra Navy vessel, which took them to Albania, will need to return them to Italy. An eighth migrant has already returned to Italy after being deemed ‘vulnerable’.
On 18th October, the same court refused to validate the detention of 12 migrants from the first group taken to Albania. The court cited concerns about safety in Bangladesh and Egypt, referencing an October 4 European Court of Justice ruling.
In response, the Italian government has now designated 19 “safe” countries for repatriation, including Bangladesh and Egypt, aiming to sidestep legal issues and align judicial decisions with this list.
Rome court clarifies position
However, the Rome court clarified that, under EU law, the criteria for “safe” countries must be applied carefully and are subject to judicial verification. In a note issued after its decision on the new case, the court stated the “criteria for the designation of a State as a safe country of origin are laid out by European Union law”. Furthermore, the judge has the “duty to always and concretely verify” the “correct implementation of the Union’s law, which, notoriously, prevails over national law when it is incompatible with it, as also provided for by the Italian Constitution”.
The statement added the designation of a country as safe “is relevant only to identify the procedures to be implemented” in a specific case. And does “not prevent the repatriation and/or the expulsion of the migrant person whose asylum request has been rejected or that does not have the legal requirements to stay in Italy”.
