Europe's top court on Friday questioned the legitimacy of the "safe countries" list Italy uses to send migrants to Albania and fast-track their asylum claims, in a fresh blow to a key plank of the government's migration policy.

Europe's top court on Friday questioned the legitimacy of the "safe countries" list Italy uses to send migrants to Albania to await decisions on their asylum claims, in a fresh blow to a key aspect of the government's migration policy.

A ruling by the EU's top court has dealt a further blow to Italy's attempts to create a fast-track system in Albania for processing asylum applications offshore. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has said that the way the Italian government currently defines whether a country is "safe" to return someone whose application is rejected contravenes EU law.