Legal Magic and Migration Control: The Issue of Competence in the Italy–Albania Protocol as the Key to (Un)Lock the Taboo of Externalisation and Shape the Future of EU Migration Governance

The 2023 Italy–Albania Protocol has ignited discussions, raising complex interpretative issues. From a supranational angle, legal controversies have concerned the (in)compatibility of the Protocol with international and EU law, notably in terms of compliance with human rights standards and obligations. Another, crucial question has now appeared on the scene: whether Italy, as an EU Member State, was actually in the position to even negotiate and conclude such an international agreement with a third country. The legitimacy of the Italian initiative has to be tested in the light of the capacity of the Protocol to affect existing (and forthcoming) EU legislation on a variety of migration-related fields and/or to alter its scope of application. There is, thus, a risk to the uniformity and coherence of EU law in areas that have been intensively regulated by the EU common legislator. The question is critical because it concerns the structure of EU external relations law and entails a potential far-reaching impact on the future stages of the integration process in the fields relating to migration management.