Italy's Meloni aims to rescue Albania refugee model with new decree

Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni's Cabinet was discussing on Monday how to retrieve its plans to process refugees entering the country by sea in Albania following defeat of the initial plan in the courts.

The La Repubblica newspaper reported that a list of safe countries of origin could in future be drawn up by Meloni's office rather than by the Foreign Ministry. There was no official confirmation of the report.

The report said that Meloni was seeking by means of a new decree to get around a court ruling handed down on Friday to the effect that the first group of asylum-seekers had to be returned immediately to Italy from Albania.

The court ruled that the countries concerned, Bangladesh and Egypt, could not be seen as safe in terms of a ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Lists of this kind are established individually by European Union member states, rather than for the bloc as a whole. Italy's list takes in 21 countries.

The government has indicated that it intends to appeal the ruling handed down by the court responsible for deciding immigration issues and to take its case to the highest level if necessary.

The extraordinary Cabinet session of the three-party coalition was being held on Monday afternoon.