Georgia Meloni’s plan to use detention centers in Albania has faced a number of legal challenges and human rights criticism.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has doubled down on her government’s plans to send migrants and asylum seekers to detention centers in Albania, despite opposition from Italian judges and the EU’s top court.
Speaking at a summit in Rome alongside Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, Meloni said his right-wing government was “determined” to go ahead with plans to send migrants and asylum seekers out of the European Union while their claims are processed.
Recommended stories
3 List of itemsEnd of list
“The protocol will certainly work when the new (EU) migration and asylum agreement comes into force,” Meloni said on Thursday, referring to the legal framework set for 2026.
“When the Migration and Asylum Agreement comes into force, the centers will function as intended from the beginning.”
In a separate transaction Approved by the Albanian Parliament In February 2024, Albania agreed to house up to 3,000 migrants and asylum seekers at any one time in two Italian-run processing centers near the port of Shenzhen.
Under the plan at the time, migrants and asylum seekers would be held for a period of about a month. It was expected that 36,000 people a year could be sent from Italian custody to Albania during the initial five-year period.
According to the agreement, people will be initially screened on ships that rescue them before being sent to Albania for further screening.
The centers were to be operated under Italian law with Italian security and staff. Italian judges will hear immigration cases via video from Rome.
Rights groups condemned the deal, describing it as the International Rescue Committee.Inhuman“. Amnesty International condemned it as “illegal and ineffective”.
As of August 1, 2025, 36,557 immigrants arrived in Italy. This number is slightly higher than the same period in 2024, but far less than the 89,165 reported during the same period in 2023.
After the approval of the Parliament, Italy First ship sent In October 2024 asylum seekers and migrants – 10 men from Bangladesh and six men from Egypt – were taken to the port of Shengjin in Albania.
But very quickly, the four men were identified as “vulnerable” and sent back to Italy. Within two days, the remaining 12 men were also sent back, after an Italian court ruled against their detention.
Italy then sent ships of asylum seekers to Albania January And April 2025 despite court challenges.
Meloni’s plan has been mired in legal challenges from the start. Italian judges have repeatedly rejected deportations from the centers, ruling that asylum seekers’ countries of origin are not safe enough to send them back.
The cases were referred to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which had previously established that asylum applicants could not be fast-tracked to return home if their countries were not considered safe.
ECG Finally supported the Italian judge In a decision in August, Meloni’s list of “safe countries” was called into question.
Meloni’s government issued a decree establishing a list of 19 supposedly safe countries that included Egypt and Bangladesh. However, the EU does not classify either as a safe country of origin.
The ECJ has said that Italy is free to decide which countries are “safe” but that such a designation must meet strict legal standards and allow applicants and courts to access and challenge supporting evidence.
The ECJ also said that a country cannot be classified as “safe” if it does not adequately protect its entire population, agreeing with an Italian judge who raised the same issue last year.
Detention facilities in Albania have been empty for months due to judicial obstruction. Earlier this year, a report found that their construction costs were seven times higher than equivalent centers in Italy.