Bugarin: Migrant reception centre proposal is Italy's unilateral initiative, not an EU-wide position

The proposal to establish a reception and repatriation centre for irregular migrants in Montenegro remains, for now, a unilateral initiative by Italy and cannot be imposed on Montenegro.

That is the assessment of immigration law expert Bojan Bugarin, who spoke to Pobjeda after Montenegro, along with 11 mostly African countries, appeared on a preliminary list of states where the European Union could establish new reception and repatriation centres for irregular migrants.

The strategy of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government is based on expanding the existing „Albanian model“ to other countries outside the European Union.

Italian news agency ANSA reported that the key difference compared with the agreement Rome has with Tirana is that the new centres would be financed directly from EU funds and the Union's common budget.

In addition to Montenegro, the list of potential host countries includes Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Rwanda, Ghana, Senegal, Mauritania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Uzbekistan and Armenia.

- This is neither an EU regulation nor an EU rule. It is entirely voluntary and cannot have any serious repercussions for Montenegro. I believe the issue is being given far more attention than it deserves, and there is no need to dramatize it to this extent - Bugarin said.

Prime Minister Milojko Spajić said yesterday that the Montenegrin government has not held any negotiations on establishing reception and repatriation centres for irregular migrants from EU countries, nor has it received any official proposal to open such facilities.

- When such an initiative is formally presented, our response will be negative - Spajić wrote on the social media platform X.

He stressed that Montenegro remains a reliable EU partner in protecting the Union's external borders and managing migration flows.

- However, any decision concerning our country will be made responsibly, transparently, and exclusively in the interests of the citizens of Montenegro - the prime minister added.

Bugarin, however, noted that Italy would need the support of the European Union as a whole, both financially and politically, for such a project to move forward.

- We will see how the other EU member states react and whether this ultimately becomes a joint recommendation endorsed by all member states or remains solely Italy's unilateral initiative. Italy could pursue its own diplomatic efforts toward Montenegro, attempting to negotiate an arrangement similar to the one it reached with Albania. In doing so, it could seek to use Montenegro's EU accession negotiations by offering stronger support or even making its support for closing negotiating chapters conditional on Montenegro's acceptance, although I do not believe that will happen. I am convinced this will not become the position of the European Union as a whole - Bugarin said.

He added that the worst-case scenario for Montenegro would be if the entire European Union were to endorse Italy's proposal.

- In that case, Montenegro could come under a certain degree of diplomatic pressure to accept it - Bugarin concluded.

Italy's proposal envisions accommodation facilities for at least several thousand migrants

The immigration law expert also explained that the centres proposed by Italy are fundamentally different from the migrant reception centres Montenegro already operates in Spuž and Božaj.

- The facilities in Spuž and Božaj are designed to accommodate migrants who enter Montenegro irregularly and use the country as a transit route on their way to Western Europe. They are part of the well-known migration routes and represent Montenegro's standard reception capacity for migration management purposes. What Italy is proposing would, in practice, require Montenegro to build new modular facilities and accommodation capacity capable of hosting at least several thousand migrants. These would most likely be open-type camps, but establishing such facilities would take time - Bugarin concluded.