Setback to Meloni’s Albania deal as court orders asylum seekers’ return to Italy, PM to convene Cabinet meet on Monday

A court in Italy ruled against the right-wing government’s attempt to detain 12 migrants at newly opened centers in Albania on Friday, presenting a significant challenge to the administration’s plan to outsource some migrant processing to the Balkans.

According to the Associated Press, these 12 migrants were part of the initial group of 16 intended for the two centers that opened last week under a five-year agreement to accommodate 3,000 migrants per month picked up by the Italian coast guard.

The goal is to assess them for potential asylum in Italy or to facilitate their return to their home countries, added the report.

However, Italian law requires each migrant’s detention to be reviewed by special migration courts. The Rome court rejected the detention of the 12 migrants, stating they cannot be sent back to Bangladesh and Egypt, as it does not consider those countries safe.

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The other four migrants had already been deemed vulnerable and rejected by center staff after health and other screenings.

The verdict represents an early stumbling block in the arrangement between Italy and Albania that the government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has hailed as a new “model” to handle illegal migration.

Meloni slammed the judges following the ruling, and said that deeming countries such as Bangladesh and Egypt unsafe means that virtually all migrants would be barred from the Albania programme, making it unworkable. Her interior minister, Matteo Piantedosi, said the government would appeal the ruling.

Speaking to reporters during a trip to Lebanon, Meloni said she would convene a Cabinet meeting Monday to discuss the issue.

“We’ll meet to approve some norms that will allow us to overcome this obstacle,” The Associated Press quoted Meloni as saying.

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“I believe it’s up to the government and not magistrates to establish which countries can be considered safe,” she added.

Although Bangladesh and Egypt are not at war or facing any large refugee crises, the Rome judges said their decision to deem them unsafe was based on recent international rulings that consider discrimination or persecution in even a part of a country as grounds for such a determination.

The anti-migration League party — part of Meloni’s coalition government — accused the judges of being activists issuing politically motivated decisions.

The Italian center-left opposition responded by stressing that the current scheme is expensive, complicated and damaging to migrants’ rights.

The 16 migrants — 10 Bangladeshis and six Egyptians — were transferred on government orders to Albania by an Italian navy vessel on Wednesday to undergo what is referred to as accelerated border procedures under the Italy-Albania deal.

However, now all of them must be transferred to Italy.

The centers will cost Italy 670 million euros ($730 million) over five years. The facilities are run by Italy and are under Italian jurisdiction, while Albanian guards provide external security.

Italy has agreed to welcome those migrants who are granted asylum, while those whose applications are rejected face deportation directly from Albania.

The controversial agreement to outsource the housing of asylum-seekers to a non-EU member country has been hailed by some countries that, like Italy, are experiencing a high level of migrant arrivals.

The agreement tawas endorsed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as an example of “out-of-box thinking” in tackling the issue of migration into the European Union.

With inputs from agencies