Italy's Meloni to visit Albania to discuss migrants: media

Under a controversial deal between Rome and Tirana, Albania has agreed totake in asylum seekers plucked from the seas off Italy, register them at acentre on the Adriatic Sea and then house them at another centre inland whiletheir claims are processed.
Meloni's hard-right government had hoped to have the project up and runningbefore the European Union-wide elections on June 6-9 to bolster her claim tobe tough on illegal migration, reports BSS.
The Italian leader, who heads the post-fascist Brothers of Italy party, wasdue to arrive in Tirana on Wednesday to meet her Albanian counterpart EdiRama and discuss the holding centres for migrants.
Media in both countries said on Monday that during her visit, which coincideswith Italian cultural week in Albania, Meloni was expected to visit one ofthe holding centres set up under the deal she signed with Rami in November2023.
Authorities in the Albanian port city of Shenjin said at the weekend that themigrant holding centre there had been completed.
The asylum claims processing centre in Gjader is still unfinished and nodelivery date has been announced.
The centres, to be managed by Italy, can hold a maximum of 3,000 asylumseekers at any one time.
Italy will pay to build the centres and foot the bill for expenses relatingto security and medical care, at a cost estimated at between 650 to 750million euros ($700-800 million) over the first five years.
In an interview aired on Italian television on Sunday evening, Rami defendedthe deal saying Albania, which is seeking to join the 27-nation EU, was"showing solidarity over the demographic problem facing Europe today".
The International Rescue Committee NGO has condemned the agreement as"dehumanising", while Amnesty International described it as "illegal andunenforceable".