Italy's plan to build reception centers in Albania for migrants arriving by sea could be a blueprint for deals between the European Union (EU) and non-member countries, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in an interview.

The agreement is the first example of a non-EU country accepting migrants on behalf of an EU nation. It has echoes of a controversial attempt by the British government to send thousands of asylum seekers to Rwanda.

It was unveiled by Meloni and her Albanian counterpart, Edi Rama, and aims to bring down migrant arrivals by sea in Italy, which are up by about 65 percent in the year to date to over 145,000.

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"I believe it (the deal) could become a model of cooperation between EU and non-EU countries in managing migration flows... I think this agreement features a bold European spirit," Meloni told Il Messaggero daily.

She said the European Commission had been informed and had not given any negative feedback on the initiative.

The Albanian centers would initially host some 3,000 people when they open in spring 2024, Meloni said, noting Rome hoped to scale up their capacity to process 36,000 migrants a year.

Meloni's administration has already toughened jail terms for human smugglers and ruled to increase the number of detention centers around the country to hold migrants ahead of their possible repatriation.

Italy's ruling hard-right Brothers of Italy party has long called for such facilities to be set up outside the EU, proposing for example North Africa, but no country from that region had accepted.

"They (the migrants) will stay in these centers for the time necessary to quickly process asylum applications and, if necessary, for repatriation," Meloni said, speaking in Rome alongside her Albanian counterpart Edi Rama.

'Friends help one another'

The Italian leader said minors, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups would not be taken to Albania. Few other details of the project, including the cost, have been disclosed. 

A source in her office said the aim of the plan was to deter migrant departures and human trafficking and it would apply only to migrants rescued at sea by the Italian coast guard or navy, not by charity groups.

The same source denied Italy would pay any money to Albania to host the centers.

Meloni said Italy would build a migrant identification facility at the Albanian port of Shengjin, and a repatriation center inland. Both facilities will operate under Italian jurisdiction, she said.

Rama said Italy had not been the only EU country to propose such a deal, but he said he accepted Rome's offer as a sign of "gratitude."

In the 1990s, Italy took in large numbers of Albanians and Rome is now one of the most solid backers of Albania's EU accession hopes. 

"We are friends, and between friends you help one another," Rama said.

The Albanian leader said the deal with Italy still needed to be put into practice, and predicted that negotiating repatriation agreements with African nations for failed asylum seekers would be "the hardest thing."

In comments to La Stampa daily, he showed skepticism about how much impact the agreement would have. 

"It will not solve anything, but she (Meloni) asked us for help and we gave it," he said.

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