REPUBLISHED

Meloni-Rama pact in crisis as 7 more migrants return to Italy

Erblin Vukaj · Originally published: 12 November 2024

The migrants’ return and the court ruling

The Meloni-Rama pact has suffered another blow after the second group of migrants placed in Albania last week also returned to Italy.

This brings to 24 the number brought to Shëngjin and then returned to Italy, including those sent back for health reasons, in less than a month since the agreement between the two governments began to be implemented.

The latest migrants left Shëngjin for Brindisi on Monday evening, where they are expected to be placed in reception camps for their asylum applications to undergo the ordinary assessment process.

The Rome court suspended proceedings to validate the detention of seven of the eight migrants confined in the Gjadër camp on Friday, referring questions to the Court of Justice of the EU. The suspension did not stop the statutory 48-hour period, after which detention would lapse without judicial validation.

One had been sent back on the day of arrival after being found in poor health. The Gjadër camp is now empty again.

In its decision, the court again referred to the designation of migrants’ countries of origin as “safe or unsafe.”

It reasoned that “the designation is determined by EU legislation.” The court sought clarification on whether Italy’s designation of countries of origin, including Egypt and Bangladesh, complies with EU criteria. It also stressed that “EU law prevails over national law” where the latter is incompatible with it.

Three weeks earlier, the Rome court also refused to validate the detention of 12 other migrants confined in Albania at the Gjadër camp, opened under the Meloni-Rama agreement signed last year for “managing migration flows.”

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has insisted that designating countries as “safe” or “unsafe” is the government’s responsibility, not the courts’. This position is expected to be clarified by the European Court of Justice itself in spring.

The Italian organisation Sea Watch has called the continuing procedure of sending migrants from Lampedusa to Shëngjin an “inhuman joke.”

More than “managing” migration flows, the Italy-Albania pact aims to deter them.

Coming from “safe” countries places migrants in expedited procedures for assessing possible asylum applications, which in most cases end in rejection and deportation to their countries of origin.

This explains why Meloni’s government revised the designations in spring this year, treating Egypt and Bangladesh as safe countries.

Reactions to the case

The Meloni-Rama agreement, whose implementation has been hindered by the Rome court’s decisions, has drawn attention online, with a comment by Elon Musk going viral on Tuesday.

The technology and electric-car magnate, who aligned himself with Donald Trump during the presidential campaign, wrote in a comment addressed to journalist Mario Nawfal that “these judges need to go.”

These judges need to go

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 11, 2024

This is not the first time Musk has made such calls. He has met Meloni several times and publicly expressed support for her, particularly on irregular migration.

* This article was reviewed and corrected on 8 October 2026.