(Bloomberg) -- Albania’s Constitutional Court approved an agreement with Italy to send migrants picked up by Italian vessels to refugee camps on Albanian soil, waving off a challenge to the deal by opposition parties.
The top court’s justices voted 5-4 in favor of the migration deal struck between Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni last November. Two opposition groups condemned the accord as undermining the Balkan nation’s sovereignty.
The deal “does not establish territorial boundaries nor does it alter the territorial integrity of the Republic of Albania,” the court said in a statement. In the area specified by the agreement, “Albanian law is applied, alongside, but not limited to, Italian law.”
Under the deal, Albania agreed to shelter asylum seekers picked up at sea by Italian ships in two migration centers able to hold as many as 3,000 people. The migrants would remain in Albania until their requests are processed or until they are repatriated.
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Some 30 Albanian lawmakers called the arrangement a violation of sovereignty because the processing centers would be overseen by Italian authorities. The agreement is scheduled to take effect by March.
Meloni and Rama have championed the deal, despite widespread criticism from human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and resistance from locals near the proposed centers.
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