Italian PM hails 'courageous' Albania migrant deal

ROME

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday hailed a controversial deal to send migrants for processing in Albania as "courageous," saying Rome was setting a "good example" for other countries.

Italy is the first country in the European Union to create processing centers outside the bloc for migrants arriving at its borders.

"It is a new, courageous, unprecedented path, but one that perfectly reflects the European spirit and has everything it takes to be followed also with other non-EU nations," Meloni told Italy's Senate.

She was speaking a day after the first group of migrants to be transferred to Albania left Italy despite strong criticism from human rights groups.

"Italy has set a good example," the far-right leader insisted.

At an EU leaders summit later this week in Brussels, "an informal meeting will be held at Italy's initiative between the member states most interested in the migration issue," Meloni said.

The first group of 16 men, from Bangladesh and Egypt, are being transported aboard the Italian navy's Libra patrol vessel and are due to arrive today in Albania, where Italy has built two centers.

Meloni, the leader of the post-fascist Brothers of Italy party, has promised to stop the tens of thousands of migrants who land on Italy's shores from North Africa each year on boats.

In November last year, she agreed a deal with her Albanian counterpart Edi Rama to process some asylum seekers in his country, which is just across the Adriatic Sea, but not part of the European Union.

The five-year deal, estimated to cost Italy 160 million euros ($175 million) a year, covers adult male migrants intercepted by Italian navy or coastguard vessels in international waters, but within Italy's search and rescue area.

The centers will be operated under Italian law, with Italian security and staff, and judges hearing cases via video link from Rome.

But human rights groups question whether Albania will offer enough protection for asylum seekers, with Amnesty International having described the scheme as a "cruel experiment [that] is a stain on the Italian government."