First migrants arrive in Albania under contested Italy deal

The first undocumented migrants sent by Italy to Albania under a controversial deal that is being closely watched in Europe arrived Wednesday in the port of Shengjin.

The 16 men from Bangladesh and Egypt disembarked from an Italian navy vessel three days after they were intercepted in the Mediterranean.

The men were escorted in small groups to the gates of a new processing centre where their asylum requests will be handled.

Italy's far-right Prime Minister Georgia Meloni vowed to cut migrant numbers when she took office in 2022. Italy has also criticised the European Union's response to undocumented migrants and EU leaders were to discuss the offshore processing centres at a summit this week.

Amnesty International has, however, called the centres a "cruel experiment (that) is a stain on the Italian government".

Italy will run two centres in Albania surrounded by high walls and security cameras, one in Shengjin and the other in Gjader, 20 kilometres (12 miles) away.

The centres will be operated under Italian law, with Italian security and staff, with judges hearing asylum request cases by video from Rome.

More than 300 Italian soldiers, doctors and judges are involved in the operation, according to Italian diplomats.

Migrants will be registered and undergo health checks in Shengjin before being transferred to the Gjader centre where they will be housed in 12 square metre (129 square feet) temporary cabins.

Cells have been set up for applicants whose asylum requests are refused.

- 'European dream ends here' -

On Wednesday, several civil rights activists gathered near the centre in Shengjin carrying a large banner that read in English: "The European Dream Ends Here."

They also held photos of Meloni and her Albanian counterpart Edi Rama dressed as police officers.

Rights groups question if there will be sufficient protection for asylum seekers and have expressed doubts as to whether the centres are allowed under international law.

Meloni brushed aside criticism on Tuesday calling the centres "a new, courageous, unprecedented path" that could be used in other non-EU nations.

The arrangement is a European first, which other leaders in the region are watching closely.

- 'Draw lessons' -

Migration is a key topic at an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.

Meanwhile, Greece said it would push for a "European solution" to migrant arrivals, saying that "bilateral accords will lead nowhere".

"Nobody can tackle this problem alone," Greece's Immigration Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos told Skai TV.

"This is why the prime minister (Kyriakos Mitsotakis) will also speak about... a European solution" on migration at the summit, he said.

In a letter to member states ahead of the talks, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc would "be able to draw lessons" from the Italy-Albania accord.

Meloni and Rama agreed the project in November 2023. Set to last five years, it will cost Italy an estimated 160 million euros ($175 million) a year.

That money "could have been used for public health to reduce waiting lists, but we are throwing it out the window to deport migrants and trample on their rights," Elly Schlein, leader of Italy's centre-left Democratic Party, said in an interview with the Corriere della Sera daily paper published Wednesday.

The migrants intercepted in Italian waters who are deemed the most vulnerable -- such as women and children -- will be taken to Italy.

The Albanian centres will have an initial capacity of 1,000 people that could reach 3,000.

The scheme sparked a heated debate in the Italian parliament on Wednesday.

Lawmaker Alfonso Colucci from the opposition Five Star Movement stressed that Italy paid "around 18,000 euros per migrant" to transfer 16 people to Albania.

"Over the last three days, more than 1,600 migrants have landed in Italy," migration researcher Matteo Villa of Datalab Europe posted on X. "An Italian navy vessels is taking 16 to Albania."

"I don't think I need to add anything else."