Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has declared war on Italy’s judges who are trying to kybosh at birth her much vaunted scheme to offshore illegal migrants to Albania.

Last Friday, a court in Rome dealt Meloni’s Albania scheme a potentially fatal blow by ruling that the first migrants sent to Albania cannot be detained and must be freed because their countries of origin – Bangladesh and Egypt – are unsafe.

The Toghe Rosse have Meloni in their sights

She has now issued an emergency decree to change the law and her ministers are confident that it will stop the judges making similar rulings in the future.

Meloni’s Albania scheme launched last week and is seen across Europe as a potential game changer in the battle to stop illegal migrants. The aim is to ferry up to 3,000 migrants a month picked up in the central Mediterranean straight to Albania 750 miles away to process and repatriate them in record time. It is much easier to achieve this in Albania than Italy.

Only adult male migrants from safe countries, by definition not refugees, will be sent to two purpose-built migrant centres in Albania which are under Italian jurisdiction. Failed asylum seekers will be detained pending deportation. This year the top country of origin for migrants arriving by sea in Italy is Bangladesh. Egypt, Tunisia and Pakistan are in the top ten, as are Guinea and Gambia. None of these countries is at war.

Sixteen migrants were ferried by the Italian naval vessel Libra to Albania last week as the scheme launched. Four were immediately sent back to Italy because they claim to be minors, or else were deemed vulnerable. A court in Rome then rejected the asylum applications of the other 12 on the grounds that they were from safe countries, namely Bangladesh and Egypt, thus not refugees.

Then, on Friday, a second court in Rome – called to validate their detention pending deportation – ruled that Bangladesh and Egypt, though not at war and on Italy’s list of safe countries, are not safe.

So the migrants – the court ruled – cannot be detained. They were therefore brought by a coastguard........

© The Spectator