Eighty foreigners held at repatriation centers in Italy have been transferred to an Italian-run facility in Albania on two charter flights late last month, as part of a protocol signed by Rome and Tirana, according to documents released by the interior ministry.
Two operations to transfer a total of some 80 foreigners from repatriation centres in Italy to an Italian-run CPR (repatriation center) in Gjader, Albania, were carried out on February 17 and 20, the Interior Ministry's Central Directorate for Immigration and Border Police said on March 3.
After a group of 30-40 irregular migrants was flown to Albania on February 17 on a charter flight that departed from Rome, with a layover in the Puglia city of Bari, three days later, authorities transferred on a second charter flight an additional "35-40" foreigners previously held in CPRs located across the national territory. All the migrants were taken to the CPR in Gjader.
The foreigners were escorted "by some 90-100 police officers" during the operations as part of a service that cost a reported 66,646 euros plus VAT, according to the documents released by the Central Directorate for Immigration and Border Police.
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'Transfer due to reorganization of Italian CPRs'
The flight on February 17 departed from Rome to land in Palermo, Sicily, with "20-30" foreigners on board, before taking off for Tirana, the capital of Albania, with "30-40" people.
This additional operation was necessary "due to unexpected needs connected to the necessary reorganization" of repatriation centres across Italy, according to the documents.
'Charter flights are a waste of public money', says +Europa party
The leader of the opposition +Europa party, Riccardo Magi, has announced that he will file a parliamentary question to shed light on the case in order for the government to explain in detail the cost of the operations.
"An additional hundred thousand euros are being wasted on the centres in Albania: this time, the government of (Premier Giorgia) Meloni has wasted Italian taxpayers' money to organize two charter flights, on February 17 and 20, to take migrants from centres in Italy to Albania. Let's remember that the centres were initially conceived to host people rescued at sea, while today they are merely being transferred from Italy, just to say they are working", said Magi.
He added: "Meloni must tell the truth and admit the failure of the externalization of migrants."
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