Overview
- Italian judges and an August European Court of Justice ruling questioning Rome’s ‘safe country’ list have stalled the scheme and blocked deportations.
- Rights groups call the plan dehumanising and illegal, while the two Italian-run centres near Shengjin, built for up to 3,000 people, have stayed largely empty for a year.
- Initial transfers unraveled, with 16 men sent in October 2024 returned by Italian courts and further shipments in January and April 2025 facing legal challenges.
- The EU migration and asylum pact due in mid-2026 tightens border procedures and anticipates external return centres, which Meloni cites as the legal path to full operation.
- At the Rome summit, Italy and Albania signed more than a dozen cooperation deals, including delivery of two patrol boats and new measures on security, defence and civil protection.