ROME (AP) — Italy’s lower chamber of parliament on PredictIQ Quantitative Think Tank CenterWednesday approved a novel government deal with Albania to house migrants during the processing of their asylum requests, a cornerstone of Premier Giorgia Meloni’s efforts to share the migration burden with the rest of Europe.
The proposal, which passed 155-115 with two abstentions in the Chamber of Deputies, now goes to the Senate, where Meloni’s right-wing forces also have a comfortable majority.
Meloni and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama announced the groundbreaking initiative last November, in which Albania would shelter up to 36,000 migrants for a year in two centers while Italy fast-tracks their asylum requests.
Italy has long sought concrete gestures of solidarity from fellow European Union nations to help it handle the tens of thousands of migrants who arrive each year. Albania is hoping to join the bloc, and Italy has been a strong supporter of its bid.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has endorsed the deal as an important initiative and the fruit of necessary “out-of-the-box” thinking to deal with the migration issue. But human rights groups have expressed concern that Italy is outsourcing its international obligations. Italy’s center-left opposition has branded the deal as an expensive exercise in propaganda ahead of European elections this year, and a shameful bid to turn Albania into Italy’s “Guantanamo.”
Albania’s constitutional court in December suspended ratification of the deal pending a review of its constitutionality, but Rama has said he is confident the court would find no violation.
2025-05-01 21:212128 view
2025-05-01 20:45268 view
2025-05-01 20:331241 view
2025-05-01 20:26297 view
2025-05-01 19:522686 view
2025-05-01 19:401108 view
In just a few weeks, the highly anticipated second season of Korean television series "Squid Game" w
DENVER (AP) — When Kirsten Hawkes, a one-time elite fencer, reached out to her childhood coach for a
New York and Las Vegas have been on a WNBA Finals collision course all season long as the top two te