ROME - Albanian prime minister, Edi Rama, breaks promise to support Italy’s plan to control immigration in cooperation with Albania, as reported Tuesday after the bilateral conference on December 5th between the countries. 

 The Italian minister of foreign affairs, Antonio Tajani, and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, previously had worked with Albania and came to an agreement regarding immigration in Italy. Both the right party of Italy, as headed by Meloni, and the centre-right leadership in Albania, came to the agreement that two centres for illegal immigrants will be built where Italy could effectively ship off the migrants to Albania. Originally, limitations of international law and public denunciation from human rights organisations were the main obstruction in the way of Italy’s ambitious plan.

 Now, since the meeting between Albania and Italy, Luzim Basha, the head of Albania’s oppositional Democratic party, together with former prime minister, Sali Berisha, have filed two appeals with the Constitutional Court asking that the ratification of the agreement, scheduled for December 22nd, be suspended for constitutional illegitimacy and violation of Albanian law. This is an unexpected roadblock for the Italian government, as prime minister Rama had previously promised Italy’s Tajani that they would not oppose the official ratification of the agreement.

 Specifically, the point contested by the democratic opposition is the alleged incompatibility with Articles 3, 4 and 7 of their Constitutional Charter and a 2016 law on international agreements. The appeals specify that the agreement "goes beyond a simple protocol between two governments, since Albania renounces its sovereignty over the territory designated for the reception centres and for this reason the premier should have obtained the authorization of the president of the Republic in advance."

 In the statement of the lawsuit released by the Democratic Party, however, not only legal elements emerge, but also the "lack of transparency" political manner in which the arrangement was finalised by the premier is called into question. "The agreement was announced strangely and without warning, and Rama, taking advantage of the parliamentary chaos, managed to avoid public debate by raising concern among the population," reads the text of the complaint made public by the daily Shqiptarja.

 It is not only the alleged unconstitutionality of the pact that concerns the opposition. On the contrary, an issue on which Rama's political opponents have been pressing the government since the announcement of the agreement is that of security. For this reason, on the same day that the appeals were filed, Interior Minister Tualant Balla was called to report on the agreement before the National Security Committee, an occasion when the opposition took the opportunity to block the proceedings in protest, forcing the proceedings to continue online. Here, Balla reiterated that the construction of the centres and any additional costs will be borne entirely by Italy and that "the protocol is important for Albania because it allows it to assert itself in a responsible manner on the issue of illegal immigration and thus be considered reliable by important international partners including the European Union."

 While it is unlikely that the court will be able to make a ruling in a tight timeframe before the December 22 parliamentary passage, a further step is now added to the path toward the realisation of the agreement sought by Giorgia Meloni with Albania, and this time, too, the stick in the wheel bears the signature of the perfect allies of the Italian right.

 gs