Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has once again defended the “Albania model,” saying Italy will continue with the plan even though two years have already been lost. She made the statement after meeting Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama in Rome. The two leaders stood together to show they still believe in the agreement that allows Italy to run migrant processing centers in Albania.
Meloni said she is confident that when the new European Asylum and Migration Pact starts next year, the centers in Albania will finally work as expected. She stressed that the idea should have been functioning long ago, but delays and obstacles held it back. A big question many observers ask is: Why does Meloni believe so strongly in this model? The answer is that she sees it as a new way to manage migration and reduce pressure on Italy’s system by processing migrants outside Italian territory.
At the summit, Meloni thanked the Albanian government for supporting the plan and said not everyone in Europe has understood how important the model could be. She added that many people tried to slow down or stop the project, but Italy and Albania will continue with it because it may change how migration is handled across Europe.
Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama also defended the agreement. He said he would support Italy again “a hundred times” and made it clear that Albania cooperates closely with Italy because the two countries share a strong relationship. However, he added that he would not make the same agreement with any other country.
Meloni blamed several obstacles for slowing the project, including court decisions that blocked the return of migrants to countries such as Bangladesh and Tunisia. She argued that these countries are considered safe by the European Commission and should have been accepted as destinations for repatriation. She also said that some European governments understand the model and are even interested in joining the agreement.
However, the plan has faced strong criticism from Italian opposition parties. Some politicians say the centers in Albania have not worked at all and have cost Italian taxpayers huge amounts of money. Elly Schlein, leader of the Democratic Party, said Meloni refuses to take responsibility for the failure of the centers, calling them “inhuman and illegal.” She argued that the government wasted €800 million on empty facilities.
Five Star Movement leader Giuseppe Conte also criticized Meloni’s defense of the project. He said the centers have wasted more than €1 billion and that Meloni is blaming courts instead of accepting her own responsibility for the delays. He insisted that the centers are not working now and will not work in the future.
Riccardo Magi, leader of +Europa, added that Meloni keeps repeating that the centers will work, even though they have been judged illegal by different courts. He said the project has become a joke that costs the Italian public hundreds of millions of euros, while the centers have processed only a very small number of migrants.