Albania migrant agreement admission of inability - Zuppi

(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 8 - The agreement the Italian government signed with Tirana this week to set up migrant centres in Albania is an admission of inability to receive them, President of the Italian Bishops' Conference and Bologna archbishop Cardinal Matteo Zuppi said on Wednesday.
    "I have read about it, we'll have to wait and see, per se it is an admission of inability because it is not understandable why reception should not be better organised, on this there can be no doubt," said Zuppi on the sidelines of the presentation of a report by the Migrantes Foundation.
    "It seems there are also discussions within the majority, what is certainly important is to have a reception system that provides security to all, both to those who are received and to those who receive," he added.
    Under the agreement Meloni signed with Albanian Premier Edi Rama in Rome on Monday, migrants rescued at sea by the Italian authorities would be taken to Albania.
    It would not apply to migrants picked up by NGO-run search-and-rescue ships, those who actually land in Italy or to minors, pregnant women and vulnerable people either.
    At the northwestern Albanian port of Shëngjin, the deal says, Italy will handle disembarkation and identification procedures and set up a first reception and screening centre.
    In Gjader, also in north-western Albania, it will set up a another centre for asylum seekers from so-called safe countries of origin along the lines of the centre at the Sicilian port of Pozzallo, where people are held for the time necessary to carry out accelerated asylum determination procedures. (ANSA).