A delegation of European Parliament members said on Monday they were prevented from carrying out a full inspection of the Italian-run migrant detention centre in Gjadër, northwest Albania – a facility at the centre of one of Europe’s most debated offshore migration experiments.
“Today’s visit was very disappointing and disgraceful. The staff really created a lot of obstacles for us,” said Tineke Strik, a Greens/EFA MEP who was among those on the visit.
The delegation also visited the processing facility at Shëngjin port, where migrants intercepted by Italian naval vessels are first disembarked and screened.
Under the Italy-Albania Protocol, signed in November 2023 and ratified the following year, one centre at the port of Shëngjin is designated for screening and registering people rescued by Italian vessels on the high seas, while the Gjadër facility handles asylum claim processing and the detention of those whose applications are rejected pending repatriation. Rome retains full responsibility for assessing asylum claims and resettling recognised refugees, with Italian personnel operating under Italian jurisdiction.
The scheme applies exclusively to adult men intercepted in international waters by the Italian navy or coastguard. The five-year deal is estimated to cost Italy around €160 million ($185 million) annually.
Strik said the delegation was denied access to the detention areas and received no information from staff. “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,” she said.
She also raised concerns about the conditions facing those detained inside. “For the people we did manage to speak to here, it’s clear they have problems asking for asylum, and many of them don’t see any way out of a failed system,” she warned.
Albania’s Interior Ministry has previously stated that the Gjadër centre operates as Italian territory, with Albanian police responsible solely for perimeter security.
A scheme mired in legal and logistical challenges
Monday’s blocked visit is the latest episode in a troubled history for the centres. As of mid-2025, Italy’s Albania centres held only a few dozen people, despite an original target of 3,000 per month – and a study by an Italian university found each place in Albania cost over €153,000 to set up, compared to just €21,000 at similar centres in Sicily.
Italian courts repeatedly blocked transfers, ruling that countries including Bangladesh and Egypt could not be considered uniformly safe under EU law. In August 2025, the European Court of Justice issued a landmark ruling clarifying the rules on how member states can designate safe countries of origin, delivering a blow to the offshore processing scheme.
The Gjadër facility was initially established to be both an asylum processing centre and a pre-return detention centre. However, after failing a number of legal challenges, it is now primarily used as a detention centre for people who have been ordered deported. As of mid-June 2026, it had held approximately 620 people since being repurposed.
The IRC, which visited the facility earlier this month, warned that conditions there should not serve as a blueprint for EU-wide policy. Detainees reported widespread mental health issues that were not being adequately addressed, and a lack of connection to the outside world. People detained in the centre have their phones taken on arrival, face significant barriers to accessing information, and struggle to contact loved ones.
A new legal landscape
The MEP visit comes at a pivotal moment for Europe’s migration policy. On 1 June, EU member states and the European Parliament agreed on a controversial new Return Regulation, the bloc’s toughest shift in migration policy in decades, which paves the way for offshore “return hubs” outside the EU. The Parliament formally adopted the legislation on 17 June by 418 votes to 218.
That shift could resolve some of the legal obstacles that have hampered Italy’s Albania scheme. Critics, however, say it entrenches the problems the delegation witnessed on Monday. “The text finalised today is the result of a shameful agreement: the legal arsenal serving a xenophobic ideology is now complete,” Greens/EFA MEP Mélissa Camara said after the talks concluded.
At the EU level, the Council of Europe adopted a declaration in Chișinău in May reinterpreting Articles 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni welcomed as international recognition of what she called the “innovative solutions” pioneered by the Rome-Tirana agreement.
Several new arrivals have been recorded at the Albanian facilities in recent weeks, though neither government has released official figures.