Member states must recognize decisions taken by other EU countries to ensure that “migrants who have a return decision against them in one country cannot use cracks in the system to avoid returning elsewhere,” von der Leyen wrote.
Under the Italy-Albania scheme, some migrants rescued in the Mediterranean will be sent to Albania, where their asylum claims will be processed.
The two processing centres, costing around €650m (£547m), were due to open last spring but have faced long delays, have been paid for by the Italian government and will operate under Italian law.
They will house migrants while Italy processes their asylum requests. Pregnant women, children and socially vulnerable people will be excluded from the plan.
Political opponents of Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, as well as several non-governmental organizations, criticized Italy’s deal with Albania.
Riccardo Maghi, a member of parliament from the left-wing +Europe party, said the Albanian scheme was “harsh, useless and expensive”, while the NGO Doctors Without Borders said it was “likely to lead to further harm and human rights violations”.
Civil rights activists gathered outside the Italian-built center in Shenzhen with a large banner reading: “The European dream ends here.”
However, addressing MPs on Tuesday, Meloni claimed the plan was a “new, bold, unprecedented path” that “perfectly reflects the European spirit”.
The implementation and outcome of the Albanian agreement will be closely watched by many EU member states, some of which have tried to respond to the surge in support for far-right parties by toughening their rhetoric and approach to migration.
In just the past few weeks, Germany has reintroduced land border controls, the French government has said it will consider toughening immigration laws, and Poland has announced plans to temporarily suspend asylum rights for people crossing the border.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the controversial move is aimed at preventing Belarus from “destabilizing” Poland by allowing large numbers of migrants into the country.
In France and Germany, it was the gruesome killings that sparked calls for tougher immigration. An asylum-seeker from Syria stabbed three people to death in Solingenfor now a young student was killed by a Moroccan near Paris. In both cases, the murders were committed by men who had been given deportation orders that had not been carried out.
Last month, 15 member states signed a proposal by Austria and the Netherlands to improve the “efficiency” of the deportation system.
