Italian migration centres open in Albania under controversial deal

Fears agreement will set dangerous EU precedent with up to 3,000 men a month taken for asylum processing

Italy’s government has formally opened two centres in Albania where it plans to process men who are intercepted in international waters while trying to cross from Africa to Europe.

The Italian ambassador to Albania, Fabrizio Bucci, said the centres were ready to process people but could not say when the first ones would arrive. “As of today, the two centres are ready and operational,” Bucci told journalists at the port of Shëngjin on Albania’s Adriatic coast where the people picked up will land.