Albania agreed to give temporary shelter to some of the thousands of migrants who reach Italian shores illegaly while their asylum bids are being processed by Italy.
The question of who will handle the deportation of rejected applicants remains unclear.
Denmark and Britain, which tried to relocate some asylum-seekers to Rwanda before an appeals court intervened, have so far failed to implement similar measures
Migration experts and activists on Tuesday panned an agreement between Italy and Albania that would direct thousands of migrants to the Balkan nation while their asylum applications are under review, arguing the deal would potentially violate international law. The exact workings of the arrangement announced Monday as Albania’s leader visited Rome were still unknown, but it recalls a similar move by Denmark to locate asylum-seekers in Africa that was later put on hold. The European Commission, which supervises the application of European Union laws, suggested the deal could prove problematic if Italy sends migrants found in the EU's territorial waters to a non-EU nation.