Premier Giorgia Meloni on Thursday hailed the European Parliament's approval of return hubs in third countries for migrants, like Italy's in Albania.
"The European Parliament has given the green light to the new repatriation rules: Europe is finally moving in the right direction, along a path that Italy has strongly supported," Meloni said on social media, emphasizing that "with return hubs, the possibility of identifying a repatriation country for irregular immigrants is expanded, including not only countries of origin but also third countries.
"This is an important step towards making repatriations more effective, strengthening border control, and finally giving Europe a more credible migration policy." Italy has two migrant processing centres in Albania, one of which is active but has been largely stymied by judicial rulings.
The Albania scheme has spurred interest from other EU countries and also the UK, after the Labour government killed the former Conservative administration's Rwanda policy.
