Meloni was once a fiery EU critic. Now, the Italian prime minister is the one setting EU migration policy – and getting exactly what she wants.
Back in 2017, she called Europe a “failed project” and pushed for Rome to ditch the euro. "Is Europe worried? If we win, the party’s over!" she proclaimed from the campaign trail stages in 2022.
But in three years, the sidelined, eurosceptic party leader has gone from blasting the EU to coordinating a high-stakes visit to Donald Trump with the Commission president. Rather than gleefully undermining the bloc, Meloni has entered the fold.
Case in point? The Commission’s latest decision to label seven nations as “safe countries of origin” to fast-track asylum reviews and returns reads like a political gift to Meloni – one she can unwrap in Albania.
It’s exactly what she needed to revive her long-stalled plan for migrant centres in the country.
In November 2023 Rome struck a deal with Tirana, in which adult male migrants from “safe” countries of origin, intercepted at sea, would be sent to processing centres in Albania for asylum review, and, if denied asylum, returned to their home country.
But soon after, legal roadblocks appeared as Italian courts ruled that Egypt and Bangladesh (two of the main countries of origin) weren’t “safe”, effectively torpedoing the whole plan.
The result: Empty camps. Staff sent home. Millions down the drain.
But Europe was watching closely.
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