Italy to adopt decree to overturn judicial objections to Albanian migrant camps | world news

By Angelo Amante

ROME, – The Italian government was due to adopt a decree on Monday aimed at overturning court objections to its flagship plan to set up migrant detention camps in Albania to deter sea arrivals from North Africa.

The plan, launched last week, was immediately undermined as a court in Rome said on Friday that the first batch of migrants taken to Albania should be taken to Italy because their countries of origin, Egypt and Bangladesh, could not be considered safe.

The ruling called into question the entire Italian project to relocate migrant reception centers to a non-EU state and sparked a bitter row between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing administration and the judiciary.

The court based its verdict on a recent EU Court of Justice ruling in a case involving the Czech Republic, which said a country outside the EU cannot be declared safe unless its entire territory is considered free from danger

In response, the Italian government plans to upgrade the legal status of its own list of safe countries, which includes Egypt and Bangladesh and 20 other nations, a source close to the matter said, adding that the decree still was subject to change.

The list would be included in an act of law, rather than a lower-class ministerial decree as it is now.

The decision must be approved at a cabinet meeting scheduled for 16:00 GMT. However, it is not clear whether it will be effective.

Salvatore Curreri, professor of constitutional law at Enna Kore University, doubted that the proposed solution would prevent judges from again rejecting requests to detain migrants in Albania.

“The conflict with European law, which is superior to national legislation, continues … unless Italy wants to say that European sources are not binding in this matter,” he told Reuters.

Italy’s Albania plan, which has drawn comparisons with Britain’s aborted plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, was highlighted last week as a possible model for other EU nations by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

The plan was inaugurated last week when 16 migrants landed in Albania on Wednesday. Four were transferred to Italy within hours because they were minors or because they were unwell, and the remaining 12 followed after the ruling by the Rome court.

By Angelo Amante ROME, – The Italian government was due to adopt a decree on Monday aimed at overturning court objections to its flagship plan to set up migrant detention camps in Albania to deter sea arrivals from North Africa. The plan, launched last week, was immediately undermined as a court in Rome said on Friday that the first batch of migrants taken to Albania should be taken to Italy because their countries of origin, Egypt and Bangladesh, could not be considered safe. The ruling called into question the entire Italian project to relocate migrant reception centers to a non-EU state and sparked a bitter row between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing administration and the judiciary. The court based its verdict on a recent EU Court of Justice ruling in a case involving the Czech Republic, which said a country outside the EU cannot be declared safe unless its entire territory is considered free from danger In response, the Italian government plans to upgrade the legal status of its own list of safe countries, which includes Egypt and Bangladesh and 20 other nations, a source close to the matter said, adding that the decree still was subject to change. The list would be included in an act of law, rather than a lower-class ministerial decree as it is now. The decision must be approved at a cabinet meeting scheduled for 16:00 GMT. However, it is not clear whether it will be effective. Salvatore Curreri, professor of constitutional law at Enna Kore University, doubted that the proposed solution would prevent judges from again rejecting requests to detain migrants in Albania. “The conflict with European law, which is superior to national legislation, continues … unless Italy wants to say that European sources are not binding in this matter,” he told Reuters. Italy’s Albania plan, which has drawn comparisons with Britain’s aborted plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, was highlighted last week as a possible model for other EU nations by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The plan was inaugurated last week when 16 migrants landed in Albania on Wednesday. Four were transferred to Italy within hours because they were minors or because they were unwell, and the remaining 12 followed after the ruling by the Rome court.

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