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MILAN (AP) \u2014 An Italian naval ship carrying migrants was en route Wednesday to Albania<\/a> to have asylum applications processed under a five-year deal<\/a> to handle asylum claims outside the European Union\u2019s borders that has already hit a legal roadblock.<\/a><\/p>\n An Italian interior ministry spokesman confirmed that the naval ship Libra was heading to the Balkan nation, but declined to say how many migrants were aboard and when it would arrive.<\/p>\n The Italian daily La Repubblica reported that out of 1,200 migrant arrivals on Italy\u2019s southernmost island of Lampedusa over the last two days, just eight male adults traveling without families met the criteria for being screened in Albania, including that they come from countries deemed \u201csafe\u201d for repatriation.<\/p>\n The ship, which can carry 200 people besides crew, is expected in the Albanian port of Shengjin early Friday.<\/p>\n It is only the second transfer since two centers started operating last month. The first batch of migrants had to be returned to Italy, after a court in Rome ruled that their countries of origin \u2014 Bangladesh and Egypt \u2014 were not safe enough for them to be sent back.<\/p>\n Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni envisioned the two centers holding up to 3,000 migrants a month as a way to help Italy manage migrant arrivals on its southern shores, but human rights activists have criticized the deal as setting a dangerous precedent.<\/p>\n Meloni, who heads Italy’s first far-right-led government since the end of World War II, slammed the Rome court ruling, and said that deeming countries such as Bangladesh and Egypt unsafe means that virtually all migrants would be barred from the Albania program, making it unworkable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n