TIRANA, Sept. 30 – Albania, together with Kosovo and Montenegro, have officially been included in Germany’s list of safe countries of origin for asylum seekers.
The new rules adopted by Germany may take months to fully come into effect, but they practically mean Albanians are likely to be automatically denied asylum if they ask for it. The move makes it easier and faster to deport would be asylum seekers from Albania.
All other Western Balkan countries are now on the same list.
The move would make it easier to deport people whose asylum requests have been rejected.
About 40,000 Albanians have gone to Germany since the start of the year seeking asylum – mostly escaping poverty at home — a major headache for Berlin as it struggles with the influx of refugees from war-torn countries.
German authorities say economic migrants, like those from the Western Balkans, are not genuine refugees.
Tirana has been pressed by Germany to increase efforts to prevent such attempts by its citizens. But despite authorities’ efforts with information campaigns and stopping many people from traveling, there have been tens of thousands reaching Germany this year alone.
Many of them come from the poorest parts of society and leave everything behind in their homeland, selling their homes and livestock in an effort to finance the migration attempt, hoping they will start a new life in Germany.
A few hundreds have so far been deported by plane and all the returnees are prohibited to travel to the Schengen Area for the next three to five years.
The visa-free regime Albania and the region enjoy is not at risk, so far, authorities say.
Germany says it needs to speed up the deportation of the Western Balkans migrants because they clog up the asylum application process for those coming from war-torn Syria. Albanians are only second to that country in application numbers.
