Meloni’s office called the judgment “surprising” and warned it “weakens policies to combat mass illegal immigration and defend national borders.
Europe’s highest court has cast serious doubt on Italy’s key migration policy by questioning the legitimacy of its “safe countries” list—used to fast-track asylum claims and send migrants to camps in Albania. The ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Friday could derail Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s signature offshoring strategy.
Meloni’s office called the judgment “surprising” and warned it “weakens policies to combat mass illegal immigration and defend national borders.” Critics say the ruling dismantles the legal foundation of Italy’s controversial plan, which aimed to house migrants rescued at sea in detention facilities in Albania.
“This decision effectively ends the government’s vision for the Albania scheme,” said Dario Belluccio, the lawyer representing one of the two Bangladeshi asylum-seekers who challenged the practice. “Technically, the government’s approach has been completely dismantled.”
Meloni had pitched the scheme as a model for Europe—outsourcing asylum processing to Albanian camps to ease pressure on Italian infrastructure. However, from the start, courts pushed back. Italian judges had previously ordered the return of migrants from Albania, citing violations of European Union law.
In its long-awaited decision, the ECJ affirmed Italy’s right to fast-track asylum applications for nationals from countries it designates as “safe.” But the court also ruled that the label must be based on clear legal standards and subject to judicial review.
A Rome court had previously flagged the lack of transparency in how Italy classified countries like Bangladesh as safe, arguing it had no access to the evidence used. The ECJ sided with that concern, stating that asylum seekers and courts must be able to examine and challenge the safety designation.
Moreover, the ECJ said a country cannot be deemed “safe” if it fails to provide protection to its entire population—supporting claims raised earlier by Italian judges. This could undermine Italy’s case-by-case decisions on deporting migrants to such states.
Meloni’s government argued that the EU ruling now gives too much power to national judges over migration policy. “This is a development that should concern everybody,” said a statement from her office, adding it limits the ability of elected governments to set rules on immigration.
The specific case involved two Bangladeshi men who were picked up at sea by Italian authorities and taken to Albania, where their asylum claims were denied based on Italy’s classification of Bangladesh as a “safe country.”
The Albanian camps, built at considerable expense, have been sitting empty for months due to legal uncertainty. A recent report found that construction costs were seven times higher than those for similar facilities in Italy.
While the Albania plan faces an uncertain future, Italy has still managed to curb irregular migration somewhat. So far in 2025, there have been 36,557 arrivals by sea—slightly more than in the same period last year but far below the 89,165 reported during the same period in 2023.
Still, with one of its central strategies under legal fire, the government’s broader immigration agenda now faces growing scrutiny both at home and in Brussels.
