The Rwanda Plan never took off so how did Italy, which has borne the brunt of illegal migrant arrivals, strike a similar asylum agreement?
Just two months after declaring the Rwanda Plan “dead and buried”, Sir Keir Starmer now says he is “interested” in Italy’s migrant deal with Albania.
The Prime Minister is in Rome for talks with his counterpart Giorgia Meloni and wants to discuss how to stop the boats after a drop in migrant numbers in Mediterranean countries.
Britain’s Rwanda flights never got off the ground so how did Italy, which has long borne the brunt of illegal migrant arrivals in Europe, manage to strike a similar asylum agreement with Tirana? And what else can Sir Keir learn from the Italian crackdown?
The hard-Right Ms Meloni won admiration at home after striking a deal with non-EU Albania for the offshore processing of asylum seekers picked up at sea.
Under the agreement made last November, Italy is building two reception and detention camps in Albania, which will host a maximum of 3,000 migrants and be run by Rome.
It will cost Italian taxpayers about £560,000, far less than the £700 million that was earmarked for Rwanda.
It was the first time an EU country had struck such an agreement with a so-called third country, and other member states have suggested copying the Italian plan.
In contrast, the now-ditched Rwanda Plan faced criticism from EU leaders, who were unimpressed at Tory threats to leave the European Convention on Human Rights.
There are significant differences between that doomed scheme and the “Rwanda-lite” pact with Tirana.
While Rwanda trampled over European human rights law, Albania stays carefully within its limits.
Under the plan first brought forward under Boris Johnson’s Conservative government, anyone entering the UK illegally could have been sent to Rwanda, Even if a migrant’s claim for refugee status was successful, they would have to stay in the African country.
Under the Albania agreement, only migrants coming from the 21 countries deemed safe by Italy can be sent for offshore processing. Children, pregnant women and vulnerable people will still be processed in Italy, Ms Meloni has promised.
Albania is legally closer to Europe than Rwanda
While it is expected the vast majority of claims will be rejected, any migrant making a successful claim from Albania will be allowed into Italy.
Albania is geographically and legally closer to Europe than Rwanda. It is a candidate country to join the EU, as well as a Nato member.
Unlike Rwanda, Albania is a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights, the non-EU agreement that the UK also has signed up to. Those shared values and legal commitments spared Ms Meloni some of the legal difficulties the Rwanda Plan faced in British courts.
In November, the UK Supreme Court said the plan broke the European Convention and that Rwanda had a poor human rights record. There was a risk that genuine refugees could be returned to their home countries from Rwanda and face torture, it said.
Later, a court in Belfast ruled the Rwanda Plan could not apply in Northern Ireland because of human rights provision in the Brexit agreements for the region.
Waiting to join the EU
Albania has been waiting to join the EU for the last 10 years but, unlike Northern Ireland, European law does not hold sway there yet.
“The preliminary assessment by our legal service is that this is not violating EU law, it’s outside EU law,” said Ylva Johansson, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, of the agreement last year.
Ms Meloni hasn’t escaped criticism. NGOs blame her strict rules for stopping them saving migrants at sea. She has decreed the rescue ships can only pick up migrants from one boat at a time and must return to port rather than look for more boats at sea.
Despite being delayed, the Albania deal appears to be having a deterrent effect with migrants arrivals across the Mediterranean from North Africa dropping by 64 per cent.
The drop in numbers is also thanks to EU-brokered pacts with countries such as Libya and Tunisia. Italy and the EU struck a deal in July last year in which they paid Tunisia €105 million (£88.5 million) to train its coastguard and improve border security.
Booster payment to Tunisia
Ms Meloni also paid Tunisia €100 million to boost business, renewable energy projects and education investment. Boat crossings from Tunisia to Italy have dropped by 80 per cent.
The agreements with Tunisia’s autocratic president Kais Saied have been criticised by human rights organisations.
Last month, human rights groups claimed migrants and asylum seekers had been expelled from the coastal city of Sfax, Tunisia’s main departure point for Italy, and taken by authorities to the governorate of Gafsa, nearer to the border with Algeria in the south of the country.
Around 30 people were found “in catastrophic humanitarian condition”, according to a Tunisian rights group, FTDES.
However the deal with Tunisia has the strong backing of the EU. Ms Meloni played a crucial role in driving forward those negotiations, working with the European Commission despite her long history of hostility towards the EU.
Sir Keir wants a migrant return deal with the EU and a security pact, including provisions against illegal migration. Hence his decision to pick Ms Meloni’s brains for pointers.
