Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni visits Albania to thank country for hosting 2 migrant centers
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni is visiting Albania to thank the tiny Western Balkan country for its help hosting thousands of asylum seekers rescued from international waters
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni is traveling to Albania to thank the country for its willingness to host thousands of asylum seekers and tour the sites of two migrant detention centers, a visit coming just days before local and European Parliament elections, where migration is a top campaign issue.
In November, Meloni and Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama signed a 5-year deal in which Albania agreed to shelter up to 3,000 migrants rescued from international waters each month while Italy processes their asylum claims. With asylum requests expected to take around a month to process, the number of asylum seekers sent to Albania could reach up to 36,000 in a year.
Meloni has defended the controversial plan as a necessary component of her crackdown on migration, aiming to deter would-be refugees from paying smugglers to make the dangerous Mediterranean crossing. Human rights groups and opposition lawmakers have warned that refugee protections could be compromised.
Meloni will kick off her visit to the tiny Western Balkan nation at Gjader, a former military airport, 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the capital, Tirana, and where work for one of the two migrant centers has started.
