From Ratification to Practice: The Evolution of the Italy–Albania Migration Agreement and Its Legal Consequences

This dissertation offers a critical examination of the 2023 Italy–Albania Migration Agreement, focusing on its development and early implementation. The study traces the drafting and ratification of the agreement, highlights how vagueness and ambiguity were embedded in key provisions, and examines how the scheme has functioned in practice, including the legal and policy changes introduced over time. It further analyzes what the agreement reveals about the bilateral relationship between Italy and Albania. Drawing on case law, political practice, and human rights monitoring, the dissertation assesses the implications of this trajectory for the human rights obligations of both States, as well as for the agreement’s constitutionality and democratic legitimacy within the Albanian legal order. Finally, situating the agreement within the European Union’s externalisation-oriented migration framework, it considers the extent to which the Italy–Albania model may operate as a blueprint for elements of the EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum.