Italy will propose creating migrant detention centers in Armenia

At a meeting of the EU Council to be held on August 4, Italy will put forward for discussion a proposal to create detention centers for illegal migrants from European Union states in a number of countries, including Armenia.

This is reported by the newspaper Corriere della Sera.

Earlier, 22 EU countries sent a letter to the bloc's leadership calling for strengthening the European Union's external borders and stepping up the fight against illegal migration.

"Italy, represented by Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, will present at the European Council meeting convened for Tuesday a proposal to create new centers for the repatriation of illegal migrants along the Albanian model, but financed with European funds, and almost all of them will be located in Africa," the publication writes.

The publication notes that the preliminary list of countries where such centers could potentially be opened includes Rwanda, Ghana, Senegal, Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania, Egypt, Uganda, as well as Uzbekistan, Armenia, Montenegro, and Ethiopia.

On July 30, thousands of young Moroccans gathered at the border between Morocco and Spanish Ceuta (a Spanish exclave surrounded by Moroccan territory on land — ed.). According to the latest data from Spain's Interior Ministry and local authorities, between 40,000 and 60,000 illegal migrants broke through into Ceuta within 24 hours. The Spanish authorities urgently reinforced the border with additional police and military forces to control the situation.

According to Spanish and Moroccan law enforcement agencies, the catalyst for this large-scale crisis was calls on social networks, through which instructions and video clips coordinating the migrants' actions were massively distributed.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has already stated that she is considering suspending Schengen with Spain because of the influx of illegal migrants into the Spanish enclave. Finland and Denmark have joined this proposal.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz demanded that Morocco take back the migrants who broke through into Spanish Ceuta, and stated that Madrid must bring the situation in the enclave under control. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for a halt to illegal border crossings.