On the 6th of November 2023, the President of the Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni, issued a press release announcing the conclusion of a Protocol to examine asylum applications in Albania.
This analysis will therefore first clarify how it differs from other externalisation practices, and then examine whether offshore processing is allowed under EU asylum law, bearing in mind that the precise details relating to the application of the Protocol have not yet been made public, and will most likely require the passing of an implementing decree.