By Paolo Chiriatti
ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s supreme court heard cases related to the government’s plan to divert migrants to Albania on Wednesday, but will take weeks to rule on its legitimacy, sources said, leaving Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s flagship initiative in limbo.
In recent months Italy’s lower courts have questioned the legality of taking migrants picked up at sea to Italian-managed camps in Albania, saying it was against European law, and ordered their immediate transfer to Italy.
Under Meloni’s plan, migrants from a government-drafted list of “safe countries” can be deported to Albania and repatriated more quickly after a fast-tracked examination, and in most cases rejection, of their asylum applications.
The supreme court has been asked to review the legality of this list, and to rule on appeals by the interior ministry against the rulings that invalidated the detention of migrants in Albania.
After an hearing in Rome, sources said the court would issue its verdict in the coming weeks. Lawyers for migrants have asked it to refer the matter to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
Italian judges’ rulings against the Albanian plan derived from an ECJ ruling in October, unrelated to Italy, which said no country of origin of an asylum seeker could be considered safe if any part of it were dangerous.
The ECJ has been called to return to the issue, to clarify whether Italian judges acted correctly in interpreting its October ruling, but this is expected to take months. Meanwhile, the government has stopped sending migrants to Albania.
Meloni said on a TV interview on Monday she was sure her flagship plan would eventually succeed. “The Albanian scheme has to work, I will do whatever I have to do to make it work,” she told the Rete 4 channel.
Italy’s scheme has attracted international attention, as other EU governments look for ways to curb irregular immigration, and has won praise even from U.S. billionaire and future Trump administration member Elon Musk.
In a separate move aimed at overcoming legal hurdles, Italy’s ruling parties on Wednesday approved a bill that transfers rulings on migrant detentions from specialised courts to regular appeal courts.
(Writing by Angelo Amante; editing by Alvise Armellini and Christina Fincher)