If Europeans wanted evidence that it is judges and not politicians who run their countries this month has proved it.
At the start of February, the Rome court of appeal ordered that 49 migrants who had been rescued at sea and transferred to Albania – under the terms of an agreement struck between the two countries – be returned to Italy. It is the third time in four months that a court has intervened to thwart Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s attempt to combat illegal immigration.
According to the judges, sending migrants to Albania is a contravention of an EU court ruling that member states must assess the safety of a country to which it sends migrants. Albania is an official candidate for accession to the EU.
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