In a reaction on X, Meloni said the opinion confirmed the “validity” of her government’s approach and hit out at “forced and unfounded legal interpretations,” which she said had led to “two lost years.”
The Italian government cut a deal with Albania in 2023 to house migrant detention and deportation centers on its territory. The hubs were initially meant for asylum-seekers from countries considered safe while their applications were processed, but Rome has since decided to also use them to house people whose applications have been rejected and will be deported.
NGOs have repeatedly lashed out at Italy’s hubs, with Amnesty International raising concerns that the rights of asylum-seekers would be “severely curtailed.”
Nicholas Emiliou, an advocate-general at the Court of Justice of the European Union, argued in an opinion published Thursday that EU law doesn’t prevent a country from setting up detention centers to process failed asylum-seekers outside its own territory.
But he stressed that the country would still be bound by EU guarantees for migrants, including the right to legal counsel, language assistance and special support for minors and other vulnerable people.
The legal advice comes as EU negotiators are in final talks on new rules that will allow EU countries to set up so-called “return hubs” outside the bloc. German and Dutch ministers confirmed last month that they aim to have such plans in place by year-end.
The court’s final ruling doesn’t have to match an advocate-general’s opinion, but it often does.