Italy vows to push ahead with 'innovative solutions' to curb migration

Italy's government pledged on Monday to push ahead with a contested plan to detain asylum seekers in centres built in Albania and said it would work with allies on "innovative" ideas to curb flows of irregular migrants into Europe.

Rightist Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni struck a deal with her counterpart Edi Rama last year to divert to the Balkan country some of the migrants Italy picked up at sea, saying the scheme would act as a deterrent against departures from Africa.

However the flagship plan has met court opposition in recent months. Judges raised doubts over its compliance with EU law and ruled the first two groups of migrants detained in the centres had to be transferred to Italy, leaving the facilities empty.

After Meloni met her top ministers on Monday her office said they had "reiterated the firm intention to continue working, together with the EU partners ... on the so-called 'innovative solutions' to the migration phenomenon."

Only male migrants coming from a government-drafted list of safe countries are eligible to be sent to Albania. They can then be repatriated more quickly after a fast-tracked examination, and in most cases rejection, of their asylum applications.

Last week, the Italian Supreme Court said the government had the right to say which countries can be listed as safe for repatriation. Meloni said the ruling strengthened the government's conviction the Albanian scheme would go ahead.

At Monday's meeting she informed ministers of "the strong consensus" over the need for new strategies to tackle immigration that emerged during a meeting with other EU nations in Brussels last week, the statement from her office said.

The final word on the Italian plan is likely to come from the EU's Court of Justice (ECJ), in a ruling that is expected some time in the next few months.