Italian ship takes migrants to Albania in 2nd test of deal to process claims outside the EU

MILAN — An Italian naval ship carrying migrants was en route Wednesday to Albania to have asylum applications processed under a five-year deal to handle asylum claims outside the European Union’s borders that has already hit a legal roadblock.

An Italian interior ministry spokesman confirmed that the naval ship Libra was heading to the Balkan nation, but declined to say how many migrants were aboard and when it would arrive.

The Italian daily La Repubblica reported that out of 1,200 migrant arrivals on Italy’s southernmost island of Lampedusa over the last two days, just eight male adults traveling without families met the criteria for being screened in Albania, including that they come from countries deemed “safe” for repatriation.

The ship, which can carry 200 people besides crew, is expected in the Albanian port of Shengjin early Friday.

It is only the second transfer since two centers started operating last month. The first batch of migrants had to be returned to Italy, after a court in Rome ruled that their countries of origin — Bangladesh and Egypt — were not safe enough for them to be sent back.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni envisioned the two centers holding up to 3,000 migrants a month as a way to help Italy manage migrant arrivals on its southern shores, but human rights activists have criticized the deal as setting a dangerous precedent.

Meloni, who heads Italy's first far-right-led government since the end of World War II, slammed the Rome court ruling, and said that deeming countries such as Bangladesh and Egypt unsafe means that virtually all migrants would be barred from the Albania program, making it unworkable.