Will Albania accept more immigrants?

2024-10-15 21:39:00, Aktualitet CNA

Prime Minister Edi Rama

The port of Shengjin is ready to receive the first illegal immigrants who want to receive asylum in Italy, whose requests will be processed in the camps set up in Shengjin and Gjadër, after the agreement of May this year between Edi Rama and Giorgia Meloni . This model of guarding the Italian borders, which Italy proposed and which Albania signed, attracted the heads of 15 other European states, who through a letter addressed to the European Commission, the Union's executive institution, requested following the same model to deal with illegal immigration in their countries.

At the press conference in Luxembourg, where Prime Minister Rama was "to lay the important foundation stone" of the opening of negotiations with the EU, Deutsche Welle asked Rama whether his government will "open the doors" to other countries as well. Rama repeated for the umpteenth time that "there was interest from European countries but their request was rejected by him". He brought back to the table the same arguments as before: the agreement with Italy was signed because of good neighborliness and historical relations with Italy, bringing back the most recent example of the help that the Italian civil emergencies gave during the devastating earthquake that affected Albania in November of 2019.

Will Albania accept more immigrants?

Will Albania receive more immigrants?

But for the first time, between the lines, Rama left open the possibility of accepting other immigrants, if the EU itself would ask him to do so. According to him, 'the phenomenon of migration should not be treated in pieces, but as a whole.

"It's one thing to fight illegal migration, and another to guarantee regular immigration, and Europe has to do both. When you become part of a big family, you can't choose to eat only good food and sweets Sometimes you have to accept the other foods on the list, which may not be as tasty, but should be eaten anyway," Rama told DW.

Convinced to do everything on the way to full membership of the European Union, Rama added:

"We will do everything necessary to be a proud country of the EU. And history shows that we are very loyal to empires."

The agreement between the Albanian and Italian counterparts, Rama and Meloni, on the management of illegal migration continues to raise debates in both countries. The camps of Shengjin and Gjadri are considered as the Albanian "Guantamano", where illegal immigrants who intend to go from Africa to Italy will be kept isolated until the acceptance or cancellation of their application for asylum.

Will Albania accept more immigrants?

The opening of the first set of chapters

Prime Minister Rama's statements were made in Luxembourg, during the Second EU-Albania Intergovernmental Conference. The first group includes five chapters and three key criteria that Albania must meet on its way to membership in the Union. Among the most important topics of these chapters and criteria are the judicial system, the functioning of democratic institutions, security issues and reforms in public administration.

Peter Szijjarto, the foreign minister of Hungary, which holds the next presidency of the European Union, said that "Albania did its homework well to get here". Asked by Deutsche Welle if the enlargement process would work better if the veto would be removed from decision-making, he replied that "Removing the veto would lead to the destruction of the European Union, as it would reduce the role of medium and small states, and give full power to the largest states to decide"./ DW