Italy: court blocks government's asylum policy
The Italian judiciary has once again halted the plans of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to have refugees' asylum applications processed outside the EU. A court in Rome ruled that the detention of seven migrants from Egypt and Bangladesh in a reception centre in Albania was unlawful. The way in which countries of origin are designated as safe had previously been criticised by the courts. The press takes a closer look.
Ultimately up to the EU
Now the European Court of Justice must take a stand on the issue, La Repubblica insists:
“As was to be expected, the judges in Rome have once again blocked the Meloni government's Albania experiment, i.e. the detention and emergency repatriation of migrants rescued at sea outside the country's borders. ... This time the court, which had already rejected the detention of the first twelve migrants detained in Albania, decided to put everything in the hands of the European Court of Justice. Preliminary referral is the technical term here: four questions in which the EU judges are asked to clarify the conflict between supranational discipline and the most recent government decree, which differ on the definition of safe countries.”
Rome relying on robust action to prove resolve
Meloni won't give up that easily, The Irish Times is convinced:
“Meloni had hoped to process up to 36,000 annually through the Albanian centres, at an estimated cost of 800 million pounds over five years. The enormous costs of the scheme have, like the UK's Rwandan policy, brought considerable criticism. Meloni, however, is unlikely to be deterred from a policy that she can sell to voters as evidence of her determination to act robustly on the issue while depicting herself as a victim of 'undemocratic' judicial activism.”