Migrant Camps in Albania - will other Western Balkan countries follow Tirana's lead

The agreement between Albania and Italy regarding the accommodation of refugees has reignited discussions about reviving the migrant route through the Western Balkans. Kosovo Online interlocutors believe that in this way, the West wants to shift the problem of treating refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants to the Western Balkan countries. However, they also point out that, at the moment, Albania does not have the capacity to accommodate 36,000 refugees annually.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama stated that in this way, Tirana wanted to repay Italy for hosting thousands of Albanian refugees in the early 1990s, while, on the other hand, Rome had committed to expediting the processing of asylum requests in Italy.

Lawyer Nikola Kovacevic believes that migrants who will be accommodated in camps in Albania do not pose a security risk to the country and its population. Still, he expects Western countries to increasingly work on shifting the refugee problem to the Western Balkan countries and North Africa.                                                                                             

Italy and Albania, as a reminder, have signed a contract for the construction of two centers on Albanian territory for the reception of immigrants under Italian jurisdiction. Opposition in both countries opposes this agreement.

"There is no security threat to Albania and the Albanians, and that is complete nonsense, and it is not resettlement. It is a complete misrepresentation, but also the confinement of people against their will where they do not want to be. This agreement envisages redirecting boats carrying refugees from the Italian coast to Albania, where migrants would then be deprived of their freedom", Kovacevic says.

He adds that the Albanians and opposition should protest, but not because the camps bring security risks.

"I agree that both the Albanian opposition and the Albanians should protest against it, not because people who pose a security risk are being brought to their territory, but because these people are arbitrarily and against international law being detained, as stated by the Council of Europe. These are different categories of people on the move; there can be refugees, economic migrants, and asylum seekers. It is not excluded that in each wave, there are individuals of security interest, but the problem is that this is not Albania's responsibility. In general, Italy and, as we hear from Scholz and Germany, and I fear many other European countries that have mentioned such things, have too much tendency to shift the problem of treating refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants to countries like Albania", our interlocutor says.

He adds that there is probably talk about locating them in the Western Balkans and North Africa.

"I am convinced that behind closed doors, there is talk about Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Africa. Yesterday's judgment of the Supreme Court of England showed that the practice the British wanted to implement regarding Rwanda is not legally sustainable. I sincerely hope that if this plan we talked about is implemented, some lawyers will manage to challenge it and fight for something that is legal, legitimate, and in line with the European Convention on Human Rights", Kovacevic emphasized.

Zijad Becirovic, the Director of the International Institute for the Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES), stated in an interview for Kosovo Online that with the agreement between Albania and Italy on building migrant centers in Albania, a new route for migrants was being created, which would go through the Balkans.

"Regardless of who comes, whether they are migrants or someone else - it would change the ethnic structure. They want to maintain the existing structure, but this speaks more about Edi Rama's position. He has been in power for more than ten years, and, in fact, his rule has been challenged for many years due to well-founded complaints and allegations of election fraud. We have seen these scandals he has with his lobbying structures, with those FBI agents in America where legal proceedings are underway, meaning he is charged with the most serious illegal acts, including, as I said, drug trafficking and human trafficking. I think the primary goal here is to save himself and ensure support. Italy is Albania's most important partner in Europe, and it is the country with which it has the largest trade exchange, to secure its rule or political survival, and then everything else follows. Among other things, of course, the market has its own laws, and business has its own laws, so if you need labor, you have to manage because you want to have a good business result, and above all, to make a profit", Becirovic said.

On the question of whether migrants from Albania might "move" to Kosovo after visa liberalization when a large outflow of the workforce from Kosovo to the West is expected, Becirovic states that he does not believe that will happen.

Italy is facing elections, so the agreement between Rome and Tirana on the construction of two centers on Albanian territory for receiving immigrants is extremely in favor of the Italian Prime Minister, while Albania does not have the appropriate capacities, neither in security nor in the economic aspect, to participate in such an agreement, says Gjergj Koja, a journalist, analyst, and human rights activist. As Koja emphasizes, the mentioned agreement primarily reminds him of what Great Britain did when it threatened to send illegal immigrants to Africa, which the Supreme Court of Great Britain ultimately rejected.

"Today, African immigrants are being told: we will take you to Albania. It seems like Albania is being used as a 'bogeyman'. Perhaps this is related to events outside our country's borders, to show skeptical states within the EU that they have an obligation to accept their quota of immigrants, something that has not been done to this day. Almost half of the EU countries do not accept illegal immigrants", Koja says for Kosovo online.

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Our interlocutor emphasizes that Albania lacks the appropriate capacities, both in terms of security and the economy, to participate in such an agreement.

"It has been said that the number of immigrants coming here is very small compared to the number of immigrants arriving on Italian shores, but the question arises of how many of them will be able to be returned if their asylum is rejected. According to official data and local media reports, Italy has managed to return only 20% of those whose asylum was denied, and 80% of them remain in Italy", Koja says.