ROME (Reuters) – A Rome court on Monday asked EU judges to weigh in on the detention of sea migrants in Albania, which is part of the Italian right-wing government’s crackdown on irregular immigration, a legal source said.
A group of migrants, from Egypt and Bangladesh, was taken to the Balkan country after being picked up at sea last week. There were initially eight of them, but one was transferred to Italy for health reasons.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government has built migrant camps in Albania to deter sea arrivals, making some of the migrants who cross from Tunisia or Libya liable to be housed in a third country while their asylum requests are processed.
Judges dealt a first blow to the plan last month, ruling that the first batch of asylum seekers detained in Albania had to return to Italy due to concerns over their legal status after a European Union Court of Justice ruling on the matter.
The Italian Ansa news agency reported that following the Rome court decision the migrants will leave the detention centre and be transferred to Italy and arrive in the southern port of Brindisi.
(Reporting by Marco Carta, writing by Angelo Amante, editing by Alvise Armellini)
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