Italy is paying Albania to take its migrants.

Hello, this is the Marketplace Morning Report and we're coming to you live from the BBC World Service.

I'm Leanna Byrne.

An Italian naval ship carrying migrants has reached Albania, the first relocation under a new agreement

between Italy's Prime Minister Georgia Maloney and Albania's Eddie Rama.

The 16 men will undergo checks and move to a processing center for their asylum claims.

While Maloney calls this a model for Europe, it faces criticism from human rights groups.

The BBC's Guy Delani is on the story. Hello,

Ljana.

Guy, just tell me about this deal between Italy and Albania and, you know, what are the

financial implications there? Albania will, in essence, process thousands of games for asylum from people who want to

settle in Italy.

Up to 3,000 people at the time can be accommodated at these two newly built centers in Albania which are

going to be staffed by Italian officials and that means as many as 36,000 people a

year could have their asylum claims processed in Albania for people who eventually want to go to Italy.

And of course, this has been massively controversial for a lot of different reasons, human rights

organizations saying that the deal is unlawful, shameful and harmful.

But as you say, you've got the financial implications as well.

Taxpayers in Italy saying, why are the Italian government paying hundreds of millions of

euros to do this for something which a lot of people see as performative rather than a

really practical solution to the issue of irregular migration.

I'm just wondering in general is it a big year for Europe in terms of migration?

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