The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has delivered a significant legal setback to Italy’s offshoring plan to process asylum seekers in Albania, ruling that aspects of the scheme breach EU law and casting doubt on its future viability.
The judgement concerns Italy’s classification of certain countries, including Bangladesh, as “safe” for the purpose of fast-tracking asylum applications—an approach which underpinned the Albanian processing centres initiative launched by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government in 2024.
In its ruling, the ECJ upheld the principle that EU member states may accelerate asylum procedures for nationals from so-called safe countries of origin. However, the Court stressed that such designations must meet rigorous legal standards and be open to judicial scrutiny. It determined that, in practice, Italy had not provided sufficient transparency or access to evidence underpinning its “safe country” classifications, thereby preventing effective legal challenge and undermining the right to appeal.
The case was referred to the ECJ by a Rome-based court, which found it was unable to properly assess the lawfulness of the safe-country designation applied to two Bangladeshi nationals. The individuals had been rescued by Italian authorities at sea and subsequently transferred to Albania, where their asylum claims were rejected based on Italy’s classification of Bangladesh as safe.
Shengjin: Italy and Albania Implement Controversial Migrant Processing Deal
The ECJ further noted that a country may not be deemed safe if it fails to guarantee effective protection to all segments of its population, indirectly supporting arguments raised in previous Italian rulings that had questioned the blanket application of such classifications.
The judgement places renewed legal pressure on a flagship component of Meloni’s immigration agenda. The Prime Minister’s office issued a statement describing the ruling as “surprising” and warned that it “weakens policies to combat mass illegal immigration and defend national borders.” It further argued that the decision emboldens judicial overreach at the expense of democratic policymaking, stating it “further reduces the already limited” capacity of government and parliament to act in this domain.
Legal representatives involved in the proceedings interpreted the decision as fatal to the Albanian plan. Dario Belluccio, a lawyer representing one of the Bangladeshi asylum seekers, told Reuters: “It will not be possible to continue with what the Italian government had envisioned before this decision… Technically, it seems to me that the government’s approach has been completely dismantled.”
The offshore processing arrangement, agreed between Rome and Tirana in late 2023, had envisaged the establishment of migrant detention and processing centres on Albanian soil for individuals intercepted in the central Mediterranean. Meloni had promoted the initiative as a model of “outsourced” border control, drawing interest from other EU countries exploring similar policies.
However, the plan encountered legal challenges almost immediately. Italian courts began ordering the return of transferred migrants, citing incompatibility with EU legal standards. The new ECJ judgement appears to reinforce those earlier rulings.
The facilities constructed in Gjader and Shëngjin in northern Albania have reportedly stood empty for several months. A recent report found that the cost of building the centres was seven times higher than that of comparable infrastructure in Italy, raising further questions about the scheme’s cost-effectiveness.
Despite the legal limbo surrounding the Albanian centres, the broader trend in irregular sea migration to Italy has shown a marked decline since 2023. Official data indicates 36,557 arrivals in the year to date, a modest increase on 2024 figures, but still significantly below the 89,165 recorded over the same period in 2023.
The ECJ ruling is likely to complicate future attempts by EU member states to externalise asylum procedures outside the bloc’s territory, an approach that has gained traction in several capitals amid sustained political pressure to curb unauthorised migration.
Italy retains the right to determine its own list of safe countries under EU asylum law. However, the ruling clarifies that such designations must be subject to evidence-based assessment and allow for meaningful judicial review, limiting their potential use in large-scale offshore processing systems.
It remains unclear whether the Meloni government will seek to revise and relaunch the Albania scheme in a form compliant with the Court’s guidance, or whether it will abandon the project entirely.
For now, the detention centres in Albania remain idle, emblematic of the legal and political hurdles that continue to surround migration management in the European Union.
