Besnik Mustafaj: The agreement for immigrants, a "precious gift" for organized crime

2024-01-18 18:01:00, Aktualitet CNA

Besnik Mustafaj: The agreement for immigrants, a "precious gift" for

Former Foreign Minister of Albania, Besnik Mustafaj

The former Foreign Minister of Albania, Besnik Mustafaj, spoke to the Italian newspaper "La Stampa" about the migrant agreement between Albania and Italy.

Mustafaj said that bringing immigrants to Albania is not a good solution.

He stated that Albania does not have the experience to manage such a project, while declaring that it lacks human resources and the legal framework.

According to him, the immigrant agreement will be a "precious gift" for organized crime, the "smugglers".

"To be direct, I think no, it is not a good solution either for Albania or for Italy. Albania does not have the slightest experience to manage such a project, it lacks the legal framework and also the human resources professionally capable to carry out such a mission. Ultimately, I fear this will be a 'precious gift' to organized crime, the 'smugglers', who are true professionals in their profession. Most of the refugees will return to Italian soil," the former minister emphasized.

He stated that the behavior of emigrants in Albania can cause discontent and consequently can damage tourism and the local economy.

"simple arithmetic tells us that at the end of 18 months, there are likely to be 54,000 refugees and it is not predictable how this turnover will occur. The experience of Southern European countries teaches us that most of these refugees come without identity documents and do not declare their country of origin. Where will those who are not accepted return? These are questions that deeply concern and disturb the Albanian public opinion. On the other hand, it should be borne in mind that the two centers will be built, one in Shengjin, a coastal city, the tourist capital of northern Albania, and the other in Gjadër, an agricultural village 20 km from the coast of the same region. Outside the tourist season, Shengjini has about 7,000 inhabitants. Animals much less. The big fear is that such a crowd of refugees, unhappy because they have been taken by force, will kill tourism and in general the local economy, which even in its current state is very fragile. The Albanian government has so far done absolutely nothing to dispel this fear", underlined Mustafaj. / CNA