Meloni called the court’s decision “surprising” and a power grab by EU judges. “Once again, the judiciary, this time at the European level, claims spaces that do not belong to it, in the face of responsibilities that are political,” she said.
The case was brought by two Bangladeshis who were rescued at sea and brought to an Italian detention center in Albania. They challenged the rejection of their asylum application, arguing that Bangladesh is not safe, contrary to its designation on Italy’s list of safe countries.
Friday’s ruling impacts Italy’s so-called Albania model. In 2023, Meloni struck a deal with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama to detain and process the asylum claims of up to 30,000 migrants intercepted in the Mediterranean, building two facilities in Albania.
However, the plan has faced repeated setbacks in Italian courts.
Judges refused to validate the detention of the first three groups of asylum-seekers transferred to Albania in October and November 2024, and February, citing a CJEU ruling from October that said the criteria for designating a third country as a safe country of origin must be met throughout its territory. In those cases, Bangladesh and Egypt were not considered fully safe across all regions or for all groups of people.
In an attempt to bypass this legal obstacle, the Italian government issued a decree in December listing 19 countries, including Bangladesh and Egypt, as “safe” for repatriation.
