Italy vows to push ahead with ‘innovative solutions’ to curb migration

ROME: 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.