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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo

Italy’s Albania asylum deal has become a political disaster for Giorgia Meloni

Ursula von der Leyen walking away from Giorgia Meloni
Ursula von der Leyen and Giorgia Meloni at a summit in Budapest last week. The EU leader has been a supporter of the Italy-Albania deal. Photograph: Bernadett Szabó/Reuters

A multimillion-dollar migration deal between Italy and Albania aimed at curbing arrivals was presented by the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, as a new model for how to establish processing and detention centres for asylum seekers outside the EU.

The facilities in Albania were supposed to receive up to 3,000 men intercepted in international waters while crossing from Africa to Europe. But it seems neither von der Leyen nor Italy’s far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, had taken existing law into account.

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