ROME: Italy on Sunday resumed the transfer of migrants to its controversial centres in Albania, sending 49 asylum seekers to its maritime neighbour, the interior ministry said.

“Following examinations of the conditions of the intercepted people, 49 foreign citizens have boarded the Cassiopea boat for transfer to the Albanian centres where the reception, detention and evaluation procedures for individual cases will begin,” the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said that another 53 migrants had presented their passports, which would speed up their processing and increase the possibility of expelling “those who do not have the right to remain in the EU”.

Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni signed a deal with her Albanian counterpart, Edi Rama, in November 2023 to open two Italian-run centres across the Adriatic in Albania, to process some migrants rescued by Italian authorities in the Central Mediterranean.

The centres became operational in October but judges ruled against the detentions of the first two groups of men transferred there, who were instead sent to Italy.

The judges cited a recent ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which is now due to review the issue — and in the meantime, transfers have stopped.

Italy, like many other countries, draws up a list of so-called safe countries from which asylum seekers can have their applications fast-tracked. But the judges who blocked the first transfer of migrants cited an ECJ ruling stipulating that European Union states can only designate entire countries as safe, not parts of countries.