The specific case that led to the ECJ's opinion involved two Bangladeshi nationals who were rescued at sea by Italian authorities and taken to Italy's detention centre in Albania, where their asylum claims were rejected based on Italy's classification of Bangladesh as a "safe" country.

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.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) sided with an Italian court that questioned the government’s designation of Bangladesh as a “safe country of origin” — a label that allows deportations and detentions of asylum seekers while their application is under review.