Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi put forward a relevant proposal to his counterparts from other EU member states during an emergency meeting in Brussels on Tuesday. It followed last week's influx of some 50,000 migrants from Morocco into Spain's Ceuta enclave that triggered alarm across the EU.
“Now the time has come to put into practice new hub models for the external processing of asylum procedures and for returns in safe third countries,” the Reuters news agency quoted Piantedosi as saying at the meeting.
Under the proposal revealed by Italian media on Monday, the EU would open expulsion centers for migrants outside the bloc and keep them there while processing their asylum applications. Italy already has a similar arrangement with Albania. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani mentioned it ahead of the Brussels meeting.
Tajajni said the EU should consider creating similar centers in the “countries of origin and transit.” A preliminary list of those countries reportedly suggested by the Italian government includes Armenia.
“We are not aware of such information,” an Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service when asked to present the Armenian side’s position on the issue and say whether Rome has discussed it with Yerevan. She did not comment further.