3 ay önce

Albania’s top court allows Italy to build migrant processing centres

Under the scheme announced in November, EU member Italy will open two camps across the Adriatic Sea in Albania to screen migrants on arrival and detain them while asylum applications are processed.

Reuters

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says his country felt a duty to help Italy because of the special relationship between two countries / Photo: Reuters

Albania's top court has given green light to a deal letting Italy build migrant processing centres on Albanian territory.

Albania's Constitutional Court ruled on Monday that the deal was "in accordance with the constitution" and said it could now go on to be ratified in parliament.

The project has drawn comparisons with the British government's plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, which has been challenged by Britain's Supreme Court. Brussels has since said that the Italian plans do not breach European Union law.

UK, Rwanda ink new treaty to revive controversial deal on asylum seekers

Two processing centres

Under the scheme announced in November, EU member Italy would open two camps across the Adriatic Sea in Albania, which is not an EU member.

One camp would screen migrants on arrival and a second would detain them while asylum applications are processed, officials have said.

Migrants would then either be allowed to enter Italy or repatriated, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said his country felt a duty to help Italy because of the special relationship between two countries and the way Italy received hundreds of thousands of Albanians in the 1990s after the fall of communism.