An agreement to transfer asylum seekers from Italy to Albania has been approved by the constitutional court of Albania.
In accordance with the agreement, the Italian government will construct two centres in northern Albania to handle the 36,000 asylum seekers who enter Italy every year. The Italian government would fund the centres, which would be run in accordance with Italian legislation.
Operations would be overseen by Italian employees, who would in some circumstances be exempt from Albanian law. Italy would be in charge of either repatriating migrants from the centres or deporting them after their asylum claims had been evaluated. Albania will supply police officers and security guards.
The Albanian parliament will now need to ratify the agreement. But with Prime Minister Edi Rama commanding an overwhelming majority, it is expected to pass with little difficulty.
As per the agreement, approximately 3,000 individuals who attempt to travel to Italy by sea each month will be held in two processing centres close to the port of Shengjin in northwest Albania while their asylum claims are investigated.
The agreement was initially presented in Rome in November by Rama and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Soon after, the Albanian opposition filed two petitions claiming that the agreement would deprive the asylum seekers of the protection of international law and the constitution, leading to a temporary blockade of the agreement.
