The court in Albania approved the agreement with Italy to build centers for migrants

Albania's constitutional court has approved a deal allowing Italy to build migrant centers on Albanian territory that has been criticized by the opposition and rights groups.
Lawmakers from Albania's opposition Democratic Party took the deal to court, arguing it violated the constitution. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said last week that the plan raised concerns about the arbitrary detention of migrants and their living conditions. The project has been compared to the British government's plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, which was challenged by Britain's High Court.
The European Commission said the Italian plans did not breach EU law. Albania's Constitutional Court ruled yesterday that the agreement is in line with the constitution and can go to parliament for ratification. Under the plan announced in November, Italy will open two migrant camps in non-EU Albania. In one, migrants will be screened upon arrival, and in the other, they will be housed while their asylum applications are processed. Then they can enter Italy or be sent back to their homeland, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said his country felt obliged to help Italy because of the special relationship between the two countries and the way Italy accepted hundreds of thousands of Albanians in the 1990s after the fall of communism./BGNES