Speaking yesterday evening (28 September 2026) at the Munich Security Conference’s inaugural Migration Summit, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi laid out Rome’s most detailed blueprint yet for externalising asylum processing. The minister called on EU partners to back ‘return hubs’ and detention centres in non-EU countries—citing the pilot agreement Italy signed with Albania in 2025—as a deterrent against irregular sea crossings. Piantedosi urged Brussels to equip member states with “more incisive tools” to accelerate frontier procedures and deportations. He also singled out what he described as "the uncontrolled action of some NGOs in the central Mediterranean", repeating Rome’s demand for a code of conduct that would oblige rescue ships to cooperate fully with Libyan and Tunisian coastguards. The speech comes as Italy faces the expiry, on 30 September, of its latest 15-day suspension of Schengen free-movement for arrivals from Spain. Business-travel associations worry that a fresh extension could compound delays at Italian airports just as the trade-fair season picks up in Milan, Bologna and Rimini. For global mobility teams the policy direction is clear: Italy is doubling down on expedited border procedures and third-country processing. Companies moving non-EU talent into Italy should expect tighter document checks, possible carrier-liability fines, and shorter appeal windows. Employers posting staff to Spanish projects need to budget extra time for the return leg into Italy while the Schengen suspension remains in force.
Source: Italian Ministry of the Interior
