TIRANA, Sept. 9 – Albania and Germany are about to conclude a pension deal that would benefit about 20,000 Albanian citizens who have paid their social security contributions in Germany, reports Deutsche Welle in the local Albanian service.
The deal has already been approved by both the Albanian and German governments and is now awaiting the final OK by the two parliaments before entering into force.
The migration of Albanians to Germany started in July 1990 just before the collapse of the country’s communist regime when some 3,000 Albanians entered the German embassy in Tirana seeking asylum.
Albania has signed deals on the mutual recognition of pension contributions with Belgium, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Canada, Macedonia and is negotiating with several other European countries. However, negotiations with Italy and Greece, the hosts of about 1 million Albanian migrants, remain difficult due to the huge number of migrants.
Turkey is the only country where the deal on the mutual recognition of pension is being implemented since 2005 when it entered into force.