Ruling hurts European efforts to externalise migration

Significance

The decision is a major blow to the nascent Italian-Albanian migration pact, which permits Italy to process the deportation of unsuccessful asylum seekers in Albanian territory, where they wait until repatriation. The Italian government has introduced a decree aimed at challenging the court decision.

Impacts

• The European Commission could decide to include migration policy in future trade and economic deals with third countries.
• Legal challenges over immigration risk further undermining the support for the primacy of EU law in Italy.
• The falling arrival numbers of irregular migrants are unlikely to weaken the political importance of immigration for voters and parties.