On 17 June, 2026, the E.U. formally
adopted a federal law, the Return Regulation, that allows states to set up “return
hubs” outside of the E.U. for the returning of migrants back to their
respective countries. On 29 June, 2026, elected representative in the Greens/EFA
party in the E.U.’s parliament “were prevented from carrying out a full
inspection of the Italian-run migrant detention centre in Gjadër, northwest
Albania—a facility at the center of one of [the E.U.’s] most debated offshore
migration experiments.”[1]
Even though Albanian police patrolled the perimeter of the facility, that it was
Italian-run means that state employees, rather than the foreign police, who
were thwarting federal lawmakers in their inspection of the facility even
though a federal law rendered the facility legal under federal law. Such
obstructionist behavior does not bode well for the E.U.’s federal system,
wherein both the federal and state legislative bodies are legitimate.
The full essay is at "Italy Thwarts E.U. Lawmakers Inspecting an Off-Shore Migrant Centre."
1. Rebecca Rommen, “EU Lawmakers Say They Were Blocked from Fully Inspecting Italy’s Migrant Detention Centre in Albania,” Euronews.com, 29 June, 2026.
