“Albania is standing together with Italy by choosing to act like an EU member state and agreeing to share a burden that Europe should face united as a whole family in the face of a daring challenge that transcends traditional left and right divides,” Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.
The prime ministers of both Italy and Albania previously told a joint press conference in November that the centers would house migrants rescued at sea by Italian boats, but not those who made it to shore.
The Italy-Albania agreement is the first of its kind struck between an EU member country and a non-EU state. It is similar to a plan laid out by the United Kingdom to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, which was halted after a court found it unlawful.
Meloni tweeted: “Thanks to the Prime Minister @ediramaal, the institutions and the Albanian people for their friendship and collaboration.”
