SHENGJIN, Albania, Feb 1, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Dozens of migrants left Albania in 
Italian custody on Saturday, after a ruling by judges in Rome struck a fresh 
blow to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's embattled third-country migration 
centres.

According to an AFP reporter, an Italian boat carrying 43 migrants departed 
from the Albanian port of Shengjin just after midday Saturday.

The migrants arrived in Albania on Tuesday, following an earlier months-long 
pause in the scheme. Several were sent back the same day, while dozens 
remained.

On Friday, Rome's Court of Appeals referred the case to the European Court of 
Justice (ECJ), meaning the 43 migrants in Albania had to be transferred to 
Italy, a government source told AFP.

Meloni's plan to outsource migrant processing to a non-EU country and speed 
up repatriations of failed asylum seekers is being followed closely by other 
European nations.

The plan, heavily criticised by rights groups and opposition parties in 
Italy, has run into repeated blocks and the ECJ is examining legal questions 
raised by several Italian courts.

The migrants sent to Albania were among a group intercepted by Italian 
authorities as they tried to cross the Mediterranean.

Most hailed from Bangladesh, while there were also six Egyptians, one man 
from Ivory Coast and one from Gambia, said rights associations.

Meloni signed a deal with Albanian counterpart Edi Rama in November 2023 to 
open two Italian-run centres in Albania.

The centres became operational in October, but after judges ruled against the 
detentions of the first two groups of men transferred there, they were 
instead sent to Italy.

Italy, like many other countries, has a list of so-called safe countries from 
which asylum seekers can have their applications fast-tracked.

The judges who blocked the first transfer of migrants cited an ECJ ruling 
stipulating that European Union states can only designate entire countries as 
safe, not parts of countries.

Italy's list included some countries with unsafe areas.

In response, Meloni's government passed a law cutting its safe list to 19 
countries from 22 -- and insisting all parts of those nations were safe.

But judges ruled against a second transfer of migrants -- seven men from 
Egypt and Bangladesh -- saying they wanted clarification from the ECJ.

An ECJ hearing has been provisionally set for February, according to Italian 
media.