The European Parliament ratifies Meloni's centers outside the EU to deport immigrants there

BrusselsThe European Union is in a hurry on migration matters and, at an unusual speed, the European Parliament has already definitively ratified the regulation that will allow centers to be set up outside the community territory to deport immigrants, as the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, has attempted in Albania.the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, in Albania. The community club considers it a priority initiative and wants it to come into force as soon as possible. And, for this reason, the European Parliament has forced the initiative to be approved quickly — it has approved it by 418 votes in favor, 218 against, and 30 abstentions — just two weeks after reaching an agreement with the member states and the European Commission, although normally the procedures take months.

The right and the far-right, who form a majority in the Eurochamber, are the parliamentary groups that have most enthusiastically celebrated the express validation of the measure. And, conversely, the most progressive parties, such as the social democrats, the greens, and the left, have overwhelmingly opposed it. As for the liberal group, they have voted in a divided manner.

However, in the European Parliament, voting discipline is more fluid than, for example, in the Parliament of Catalonia, and there are several delegations of national parties and MEPs who tend to vote in a different direction than that indicated by the leadership of their parliamentary group. In this case, for example, the Danish socialists have voted in favor and, in fact, the Prime Minister of Denmark, the social democrat Mette Frederiksen, is one of the main proponents of the measure.

Beyond centers for deporting immigrants, this measure also expands the list of countries it considers safe and, therefore, legalizes deporting people who live irregularly in European member states. Brussels has already closed agreements with some of these third partners, such as Egypt or Tunisia, and migrants can be sent there, even if they originate from other areas and have no emotional or family ties to these countries. Various non-profit organizations have denounced that there are no guarantees that these countries will respect humanitarian and international law, and they recall that there have already been cases in the past where mistreatment of migrants has been reported.

The new regulation also opens the door for member states to carry out raids to locate immigrants living irregularly in the EU or migrants with deportation orders. Some NGOs and social democrat and left-wing MEPs have criticized that it opens the door to practices like those of the ICE under the Donald Trump administration.