PA Media/dpa
London
Britain has shown "great interest” in Italy’s migrant deal with Albania, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said, as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer claimed his government would make a return to "British pragmatism” on migration.
Meloni also brushed aside humanitarian concerns about her country’s deal with Albania as "completely groundless.” Migration was top of the agenda when Starmer visited Rome on Monday to meet his counterpart, as he seeks to reset relations with Britains’s nearest neighbours.
The Meloni government’s approach to border control has witnessed a 60 percent drop in arrivals by sea over the past year. It has recently brokered a deal with Albania which will see irregular migrants who have entered Italy processed in the Balkan nation, a scheme which has been compared to the Rwanda plan Starmer’s government scrapped.
Meloni told a press conference in Rome that she and Starmer had signed a joint communique including "very tangible, important points, and is evidence of the deep relation between our two countries.” She said they had discussed the Albanian deal, adding: "The UK government has shown great interest in this agreement.”
Meloni added they both want "to enhance this very good relationship between Italy and the UK” and "increase co-operation with the EU while of course respecting the post-Brexit rules.”
Starmer signalled he was particularly interested in Meloni’s work to tackle "upstream” issues with migration than the Albania scheme.
The prime minister said Italy’s reduction in unauthorised migrant numbers was "more likely attributable to the work that the prime minister (Meloni) has done upstream.”
He added: "I have always made the argument that preventing people leaving their country in the first place is far better than trying to deal with those that have arrived in any of our countries. I was very interested in that.
"In a sense, today was a return - if you like - to British pragmatism.” The Italian government has faced criticism from humanitarian groups about its deals with Albania, but Meloni told reporters in Rome: "I don’t know what human rights violations you’re referring to, to be totally frank.
"This accusation, I think it’s completely groundless.” She added that migrants sent to Albania would be dealt with under Italian jurisdiction.
The UK is expected to give some £4mn ($5.3mn) to an initiative called the Rome Process, an Italian government scheme to tackle the root causes of irregular migration, following the meeting of the two leaders.