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.

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.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has criticized Friday's European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling on the classification of safe countries of origin. She said the decision further restricted the already limited room for manoeuvre of governments.