Italian judges again block detention of migrants in Albania

By Angelo Amante

A Rome court on Monday asked EU judges to weigh in on the detention of sea migrants in Albania, again frustrating the Italian right-wing government's efforts to pursue its flagship plan to crackdown on irregular arrivals.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has built migrant camps in Albania to deter Mediterranean crossings, making some of the migrants who arrive from Tunisia or Libya liable to be housed in a third country while their asylum requests are processed.

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.

"A referral ... was chosen as the most suitable instrument to clarify various elements of doubtful compatibility with supranational (EU) law," a statement from the Rome court said.

Following the Rome court decision the migrants left the detention centre late on Monday and were being transferred to the southern Italian port of Brindisi, two Italian government sources said.

The decision added to tensions between the coalition government and judges.

"Another political ruling not against the government, but against Italians and their security," said Matteo Salvini, a deputy prime minister and leader of the anti-immigrant League party.

Judges dealt a first blow to Meloni's 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 (ECJ) ruling on the matter.

The migrants in line to be deported to Albania are males coming from a list of countries Italy has classified as safe, meaning their asylum requests have little chance of being accepted and they can be swiftly repatriated.

But in their first ruling, judges said this was against a recent ECJ sentence, which ruled a country outside the EU cannot be declared safe unless its entire territory is deemed free of danger.

The cabinet last month upgraded the legal status of the list of safe countries, making it an act of law rather than a lesser ministerial decree, believing that would make it harder for courts to challenge its validity.