The Albanian parliament will have to suspend ratification of a migrant pact agreed with Italy after the country's constitutional court on Wednesday (December 13) greenlit an opposition request to find out whether the deal is in keeping with Albania's constitution, news agency Reuters reported citing a statement by the court.

In early November, Albania had agreed to temporarily accommodate tens of thousands of migrants rescued at sea in an effort to try to reduce the large number of migrant arrivals to Italy. It was the first agreement of its kind between an EU member state and a non-EU country.

Last week, 30 opposition lawmakers called for its suspension by lodging two appeals with the constitutional court. The constitutional court then agreed to review the constitutionality of the agreement, which was due to be ratified by the Albanian parliament on Thursday (December 14).

Complaints about procedural errors

Complaints about procedural errors during the negotiation and signing of the deal by the opposition lawmakers led to the court ruling, Reuters reported citing the court statement. According to Reuters, the deal would also have to be authorized by the Albanian president as it affects territory and fundamental rights.

According to the news agency, the court said it has accepted the opposition lawmakers' requests and scheduled its public hearing on the issue for January 18 to determine whether the agreement violates the constitution.

"The hearing of the case automatically suspends the ratification procedures in the parliament of the Cooperation Protocol, until the final decision of the Constitutional Court," Reuters quoted the court statement.

Read more: Italy-Albania deal: Only migrants rescued in non-EU waters can be sent to Albania

Council of Europe criticizes initiative

On Thursday (December 14), the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, called on the Italian government to assess each asylum case properly when cooperating with other countries.

In a report that followed her recent visit to Italy, Mijatović warned "of the lack of adequate human rights safeguards" in the migrant pact between Italy and Albania. What's more, she recommended that the Italian authorities "prioritize improving the domestic asylum and reception systems."

The criticism comes on the heels of concerns Mijatović expressed in mid-November. The agreement between Italy and Albania would push toward "various externalization models", and its measures "significantly increase the risk of exposing refugees, asylum seekers and migrants to a violation of asylum human rights," she said.

Aside from opposition parties -- both in Albania and Italy --, church bodies like the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) as well as non-governmental organizations like the Italian migrant rescue charity Emergency, the International Rescue Committee and Amnesty International also voiced concerns about outsourcing asylum seekers to Albania.

Italy has seen a large rise in migrant arrivals this year, with more than 150,000 migrants landing on Italian shores as of December 11, according to the latest IOM data. In Albania, which has fewer than three million inhabitants, close to 5,000 migrants have arrived by land so far this year.

Also read: German Chancellor Scholz to examine Italy-Albania asylum deal

Albania denies 'selling' land to Italy

The Albanian government, meanwhile, defended the deal.

On Wednesday (December 13), Interior Minister Taulant Balla said authorities were not "selling" land to a foreign country, French news agency Agence France Presse (AFP) reported.

"We are offering this land to Italy like we usually do for example when we set up an embassy," he told AFP, saying jurisdiction inside the camp would belong to Italy, but the land itself would remain in Albanian hands.

The government has reportedly launched an orchestrated campaign to rally support for the deal ahead of any potential vote.

According to AFP, the Albanian opposition lawmakers were unhappy that Prime Minister Rama had not consulted them about his decision to make such a surprise deal with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The Italian government did not respond to a request for comment by AFP on the Albanian constitutional court's ruling.

A special relationship

Rama has said he felt a duty to help his Italian counterpart due to the special relationship between the two countries, according to AFP, referencing geographical proximity and colonial history, among other things. At its closest point, the shores of the two Mediterranean countries are only 80 kilometers apart.

Meloni, whose anti-immigrant Brothers of Italy party has reportedly long called for such facilities to be set up outside the European Union, has said the centers would host nearly 3,000 people when they open in spring of 2024. She said the Italian government hopes to scale up its capacity to process 36,000 migrants annually.

Minors and pregnant women would not be sent to the centers, the Italian premier said last month. If the asylum bids are rejected by Italy, Albania would deport the migrants.

with Reuters, AFP