Outsourcing Protection, Evanding Responsibilities: The Italy-Albania Protocol and the EU's Externalisation Outcomes

In recent decades, the European Union has increasingly relied on border externalisation as a tool for migration management. New forms of cooperation with third countries have started to be employed in order to prevent asylum seekers from reaching European shores, thereby circumventing legal obligations under international and European law and avoiding triggering jurisdiction. This dissertation, structured into two main Parts, analyses the different externalisation measures, exploring the legal and political rationales behind their implementation, with a close focus on the recent 2023 Italy-Albania Protocol. It critically examines the provisions, the legal nature of the agreement and the strategies adopted to evade responsibilities under International Law, such as the use of detention as a deterrent to migration or the manipulation of concepts such as “Safe Third Countries” or “Safe Country of Origin”. The study, using the Albanian model as case-study, argues that externalisation not only shifts responsibility beyond EU borders but also undermines the core values of the asylum system, prioritizing containment over protection.