Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni hopes to have saved her plan to process migrants entering the country in Albania after her Cabinet agreed a new decree to try to placate the courts.
Her initial plans were defeated by judges, but in a special meeting in Rome on Monday, Meloni’s three-party right-wing coalition agreed a modified regulation which tweaks which home countries can be legally categorized as safe countries of origin in future.
Nigeria, Cameroon and Colombia have now been removed from the list of safe nations, but Egypt and Bangladesh are still on it despite the court stating migrants cannot be sent back there.
The list is to be updated regularly. Experts are debating whether the new decree is sufficient to dispel the concerns of the judiciary.
Meloni believes deporting migrants who have no claims to asylum back to their home countries after being processed in Albania is the only way to stem the numbers coming from Africa and further afield.
Two camps in Albania have already opened but are empty as Italy bids to become the first EU nation to process migrants outside the bloc.
The La Repubblica newspaper reported that the list of safe countries of origin would in future be drawn up by Meloni’s office rather than by the Foreign Ministry. There was no official confirmation.
An Italian court had previously ruled that Bangladesh and Egypt could not be seen as safe for returning citizens following a ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
Lists of this kind are established individually by European Union member states, rather than for the bloc as a whole. Italy’s new list now takes in 18 countries.
The government had indicated it intends to appeal the ruling handed down by the court responsible for deciding immigration issues and to take its case to the highest level if necessary.
Meloni hopes up to 36,000 asylum applications per year can be decided in Albania.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni waits for the arrival of the Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani at Villa Pamphilj. Stefano Carofei/IPA via ZUMA Press/dpa