No less than 70 portraits of the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni adorn the walls of a restaurant that opened recently in the coastal town of Shengjin in Albania. The restaurant is located near an Italian-funded camp, where male migrants picked up in international waters en route to Italy will be housed while their asylum applications are processed.
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00:00It's midday in the Albanian port town of Shenjin in northern Albania, and the newly
00:10opened seafood restaurant Trattoria Meloni is fully booked.
00:15Although it has been opened less than a month, Trattoria Meloni is already one of the most
00:20famous restaurants in Albania.
00:23Not necessarily because of the delicacies it dishes up, but because of the 70 portraits
00:28of the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni that hang on its walls.
00:33But what does an Albanian restaurant have to do with the head of Italy's government?
00:39Restaurant owner Gia Giduta is a big fan of Giorgia Meloni.
01:02News about the restaurant spread quickly to Italy.
01:05These tourists from Venice came to Albania to see it.
01:23All 70 portraits at Trattoria Meloni were painted by well-known Albanian artist Elidon
01:30Haliti.
01:31It took him three months to complete the commission.
01:34Of course, is he in favour of Meloni's political agenda?
01:54But more than the interior design, it's the location of this restaurant that raises questions.
01:59Trattoria Meloni is situated not far from the migrant camp in Gjadr.
02:05Following a controversial deal reached by the two countries in November 2023, Italy
02:10has built two camps in Albania, a non-EU country, to house male migrants who have been rescued
02:18at sea while attempting to reach Italy and the EU.
02:22These migrants will remain in the camps while their asylum requests are being processed.
02:27It has been claimed that there is a link between the opening of the restaurant near
02:31the camp and Luta's friendship with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.
02:36Luta denies this.
02:50Italy
03:15is expected to send the first migrants here in the coming weeks.
03:20In time, the centres are expected to process up to 36,000 migrants every year.