Court suspends Italian plan to hold migrants in Albania

Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni and her Albanian counterpart Edi Rama signed the agreement last month

A plan for Italy to send asylum seekers to Albania for processing has been temporarily blocked by the Albanian constitutional court.

The court ordered a hearing next month to decide whether the deal violates Albania's constitution.

Under the agreement, the Italian government will build two centres in northern Albania to process 36,000 people hoping to reach Italy each year.

But the opposition in both countries and rights groups have criticised it.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her Albanian counterpart Edi Rama signed the agreement last month.

Under the deal, some 3,000 people a month who had attempted to reach Italy by sea would be detained in two processing centres near the north-eastern port of Shengjin while their asylum claims were examined.

The centres would be paid for by the Italian government and would be under Italian law. Italian staff would be responsible for operations and would have immunity from Albanian law in certain cases.

Once migrants' asylum claims had been assessed, Italy would be responsible for either resettling them from the centres to Italy or deporting them.

Albanian police would provide security outside the centres.

• Italy to build migrant centres in Albania

Two petitions from the Albanian opposition argued that the agreement would deny the asylum seekers the protection of the constitution and international law.

The appeals said that the agreement amounts to Albania renouncing its sovereignty over the sites. Prime Minister Rama should have gained agreement from President Bajram Begaj to implement the deal, according to the opposition.

The top court ruled that the appeals should be considered in further hearings, which automatically suspended ratification of the law.

Mr Rama's Socialist Party holds a majority in parliament. The plan was expected to be approved by lawmakers.

Ms Meloni's claim that the centres will be operational by next spring has been thrown into further doubt by the court ruling.

The Italian-Albanian deal has drawn comparison with the UK's plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.

The British scheme - also criticised by human rights groups - has been mired in legal issues.

No asylum seekers have yet been deported from the UK to Rwanda, despite the British government sending at least £240m to the African country.