Italy adopts decree to overrule court objections on Albanian migrant camps

22/10/2024 6:08

        Italy's government on Monday passed a decree aimed at overcoming court objections to its flagship immigration plan that is aimed at deterring boat migrants by sending them to detention camps in Albania.
        
        The plan, launched last week, was immediately undermined as a Rome court said the first batch of asylum seekers dropped off in Albania had to be brought to Italy because their countries of origin - Egypt and Bangladesh - could not be considered safe.
        
        The government initiative proposes sending to Albania male migrants from so-called "safe countries", which means they have little chance of winning asylum. If, as expected, their request for residency in Italy were rejected, they would be repatriated.
        
        However, the Rome court decision called into question the entire Italian project and sparked a fierce row between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's rightist administration and the judiciary.