Albania’s highest court to review migrant asylum agreement with Italy

Albania’s Constitutional Court will hold its second hearing today on the legality of the country’s recent migration agreement with Italy.

The agreement involves the operation of two facilities to hold migrants who are rescued in the Mediterranean Sea. It is planned for the facility to host up to 36,000 migrants per year. Controversially, the agreement would involve the facilities being operated by the Italian government despite their location on Albanian territory. This provision has seen criticism from NGOs such as Amnesty International which argues the process is inhumane due to the nature of automatic detentions and from right-wing opposition parties that argue it violates Albanian sovereignty.

A decision from the constitutional court is expected in March. It is likely that the court will rule in the government’s favour as similar investigations at the EU level found that the agreement is in line with the bloc’s laws. Should the agreement be implemented, the EU may gain another useful instrument to control migration flows and ease the pressure on processing and detention centres located in the southern parts of Italy. A positive ruling may also encourage similar agreements with non-EU states to process or detain migrants outside the bloc.