Italian judges have ordered seven men detained in a migration hub in Albania to be transferred to Italy, in another blow to a controversial deal between the far-right Rome government and Tirana aimed at curbing the arrival of asylum seekers.
The men arrived at the Albanian port of Shëngjin aboard a military vessel on Friday after being rescued in international waters while trying to make their way to Europe.
The Italian government had argued that all should be returned to their “safe” home countries of Egypt and Bangladesh. One man who had originally formed part of the group was already taken to Italy after he was deemed vulnerable.
Monday’s ruling marked the second time that Italian judges have ordered the return of people from the hub in Albania to Italy, further raising questions about the EU’s plans to establish migration processing and detention centres outside the bloc.
Italy’s government, led by Giorgia Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy, angrily condemned the judges’ decision on Monday, blaming “politicised magistrates” who “would like to abolish Italy’s borders”.
“Another political sentence, not against the government, but against Italians and their security,” said the deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini.
Under the deal, men from countries deemed “safe” and intercepted in international waters while attempting to cross from Africa to Europe are supposed to be held in Albania while their asylum claims are processed. The scheme, which excludes women, children and vulnerable individuals, could process up to 3,000 men a month.
However, since the hubs were opened on 11 October only 24 people have arrived in Albania in total and, after Monday’s ruling, all will have been transferred to Italy on the order of judges who have ruled they cannot be sent back to their countries of origin.
Aid workers and opposition parties attacked the Italy-Albania deal, hailed by far-right leaders and others in Europe as a potential blueprint for the future of migration, as a “complete failure” and “financial disaster” on Monday.
“This is the story of a failure, of the inability or lack of willingness to manage the phenomenon,” said Laura Boldrini, an MP for the Democratic party and a former spokesperson for the United Nations high commissioner for refugees for southern Europe.
“I hope that Giorgia Meloni at least feels great embarrassment for these people who are being bounced around like ping-pong balls for a game that is purely propagandistic. Far from being a model for Europe, this is a boomerang. The migrant facilities in Albania serve no purpose other than to humiliate migrants used as puppets.”
The judges’ rulings that the 24 men should be transferred to Italy in effect support a previous ruling of the European Union’s court of justice (ECJ) which the Italian government was accused of disregarding.
Only people coming from a list of 18 nations Italy classified as “safe” can be sent to Albania. Egypt and Bangladesh are among them, but the ECJ ruled that a country outside the bloc could not be declared safe unless its entire territory was deemed safe.
The bill for the initiative, which NGOs have labelled “inhumane, absurd and a costly system that breaches international human rights obligations”, is estimated at about €1bn (£830m) over five years.
The Albania deal row has exacerbated the already tense relations between the government and the judiciary, with the justice minister, Carlo Nordio, attacking the magistrates. “The definition of a safe country cannot be [left] up to the judiciary,” he said.
