Rama says 'confident' about Italy-Albania migration deal (2)

(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 16 - Albanian Premier Edi Rama said on Saturday he is confident in a positive outcome for the agreement with Italy on migrant reception and processing in the Adriatic country, after the Albanian constitutional court suspended its ratification in parliament pending a decision on challenges to the plan.
    "The Albanian Constitutional Court has done its duty, because according to the Constitution agreements are suspended automatically for consideration before they are ratified by parliament," Rama told the Atreju rally of Premier Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy (FdI) party in Rome.
    "It is proof that I do not control the courts in Albania," he added. In early November Rama and Meloni signed a Memorandum of Understanding to set up two centres in Albania to process the asylum applications of migrants and refugees who have been rescued at sea by Italian navy, coast guard and police vessels.
    The elderly, vulnerable, children or pregnant women, migrants and refugees who have been rescued by NGO-run ships and people who land directly on Italian soil are to be excluded from the deal.
    Rama said he is "confident" in the court's assessment of the agreement because it "has nothing unconstitutional" and that he expects a decision to be taken "much sooner" than the March deadline.
    "It is a very important agreement and we need both governments to know whether they can go ahead or not," he added. (ANSA).