Italy has built and operates migrant detention centres on Albanian soil under a deal championed by prime minister Giorgia Meloni and praised in Brussels as a model for Europe. Migrants intercepted at sea or transferred from Italy are held in legal limbo, with courts repeatedly ruling their detention unlawful and sending them back. Judges who blocked the scheme have been publicly attacked by the government, while secrecy and emergency decrees have shielded the project from scrutiny. Despite high costs, legal contradictions and evidence of serious harm to detainees, EU institutions and several member states are studying the arrangement closely. With a new EU migration pact due in 2026, the Albania centres risk becoming a blueprint for outsourcing asylum and hollowing out Europe’s right to protection, writes *De Correspondent*, a Dutch outlet.
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Italy has built and operates migrant detention centres on Albanian soil under a deal championed by prime minister Giorgia Meloni and praised in Brussels as a model for Europe. Migrants intercepted at sea or transferred from Italy are held in legal limbo, with courts repeatedly ruling their detention unlawful and sending them back. Judges who blocked the scheme have been publicly attacked by the government, while secrecy and emergency decrees have shielded the project from scrutiny. Despite high costs, legal contradictions and evidence of serious harm to detainees, EU institutions and several member states are studying the arrangement closely. With a new EU migration pact due in 2026, the Albania centres risk becoming a blueprint for outsourcing asylum and hollowing out Europe’s right to protection, writes *De Correspondent*, a Dutch outlet.