Italy is bringing to the European Union (EU) a plan to set up new return centers for illegal immigrants, based on the Albania model, in safe third countries, Euronews reports.

Italy is aiming to extend at European level the model of migrant centers set up in Albania, proposing the creation of expulsion hubs of foreign nationals arriving on EU turf unlawfully to safe third countries while their asylum and immigration files are examined. An initial list includes several African states and some countries located outside the traditional migration routes.

Potential candidates include Ghana, Senegal, Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania, Egypt, Uganda, Ethiopia, Uzbekistan, Armenia, and Montenegro. The proposal, revealed by leading Italian media outlets and confirmed by government officials, will be presented by Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi at the extraordinary Council of European Union interior ministers convened for Tuesday.

The meeting was organized after the migration emergency that erupted in Ceuta, the Spanish enclave on Moroccan territory, where over the course of the last few days, as many as 70,000 migrants forced their way into the autonomous Spanish territory. "We need to build a common strategy on immigration. The Italian government requested this meeting, together with Denmark’s social democratic government, so that the Pact on Migration and Asylum is implemented in the EU.

In other words, returns are activated," said Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani to local media outlets ahead of Tuesday's meeting. The Italian government’s goal is to create a network of centers outside the European Union dedicated to the management and return of irregular migrants, based on cooperation with countries of origin and transit.

The new hubs, under the Italian proposal, would be financed through the EU. Rome will also call for a stricter application of the Generalised Scheme of Preferences program, known as the GSP+, which was approved earlier this year and is set to enter into force from January 1, 2027.

The system links trade benefits and tariff reductions granted to developing countries to their cooperation in readmitting citizens who are attempting to enter or stay in Europe illegally. The aim is to strengthen the tools available to facilitate and support returns of migrants and asylum seekers, and increase cooperation with countries of origin of those migrants.