ActionAid submits complaint regarding centres in Albania: Antonello Ciervo of the law firm D’Angelo Pernazza & Partners is part of the legal team

Antonello Ciervo is participating as legal counsel in the initiatives of the organisationActionAid, which recently filed a 60-page complaint with the Court of Auditors and a report with ANAC to shed light on the costs and management of migrant centres in Albania, facilities established under the protocol between Italy and Albania. According to analyses carried out as part of the “Trattenuti” project developed by ActionAid with the University of Bari, the costs incurred are well above those of similar centres in Italy. The construction and fitting out of the Albanian facilities, with contracts awarded through direct awards, requiredfinancial commitments of tens of millions of euros. In particular, by the end of March 2025, approximately 400 places had been created in Gjadër, with a cost per place exceeding €153,000, a figure that appears inefficient and unjustifiable when compared to that of similar centres in Italy.

There are also alarming figures regarding operational management: in 2024, the Albanian centre was operational for only five days, with an estimated cost of €114,000 per day for the detention of 20 migrants, who in many cases were released after a few hours. This daily cost and marginal use of capacity indicate not only economic inefficiency but also what ActionAid defines as an unjustifiable waste of public money. In the document sent to the Court of Auditors, ActionAid denounces that the maxi tender of approximately €133 million for the management of the centres was not preceded by an international relevance check, which would have required more transparent procedures. The complaint raises doubts about the legitimacy of the award procedures and the compliance of the decisions taken by the public authorities.

The law firm D’Angelo Pernazza & Partners, with Antonello Ciervo among the lawyersassisting ActionAid, believes that the case, which intertwines human rights, administrativetransparency, public spending and the protection of migrants, deserves thorough examinationand rigorous scrutiny of responsibilities.

In light of these facts, the complaint represents a crucial moment to call for accountability in the use of public resources and to verify the legitimacy of migration models based on offshore detention which, according to ActionAid, are costly, ineffective and potentially harmful to people’s rights.