Italy has moved one step closer to being allowed to send migrants to Albania after an EU court adviser said the scheme was legal.
The coalition led by Giorgia Meloni has spent an estimated €670m (£581m) on building two migrant processing centres in the north of the Balkan country, hoping to use them as hubs for sending failed asylum seekers back to their home countries.
But the scheme, which is being closely watched by other countries, including Britain, has been mired in court challenges since it was launched in 2023.
The Meloni government scored a victory on Thursday when an adviser to the EU’s court of justice said that the scheme met EU rules on return and asylum procedures, as long as the rights of migrants were ensured.
Nicholas Emiliou, an advocate general, said that the court “should, in principle, regard the protocol and related Italian legislation as compatible with EU law, provided that the individual rights and guarantees of migrants under the European asylum system are fully maintained”.
His opinion is not binding on the court of justice, but EU court judges usually follow such opinions when they hand down their rulings. The court is due to make a ruling on the Albania scheme but has not indicated when that will happen.
Ms Meloni, who had hoped the migrant return hubs would be a signature policy of her crackdown on unauthorised migration, welcomed the statement but lamented that so much time had been lost to court challenges.
She wrote on X: “An important piece of news, which confirms the validity of the path we have indicated and how much two years lost have cost Italy due to forced and unfounded judicial interpretations. Meanwhile, we move forward. Because tackling illegal immigration requires seriousness, courage and concrete solutions.”
A few migrants have passed through the two centres in Shëngjin and Gjadër, but just a fraction of the 3,000 that the Meloni coalition hoped would be processed each month.
Italy is so far the only country that has been permitted to set up extraterritorial migrant centres on Albanian soil.
The accord was drawn up between Ms Meloni and Edi Rama, the prime minister of Albania, a former basketball player with whom she has a close personal rapport.
One of the world’s tallest heads of state, he has made a habit of gallantly going down on one knee when he meets her at official events, to her apparent delight.
Mr Rama said he consented to the deal because the two countries have a close bond, founded in part on Italy taking in large numbers of Albanians when the country imploded after the collapse of communism.
Speaking at an economic forum in Greece this week, he said: “We have a long love story with Italy. They don’t ask many things of us but when they ask, we always say yes because they have been very good to us in very difficult moments so it’s a special bond.
“And then, of course, when the Italian prime minister is a woman, it is even more impossible to say no, you understand?”
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