TIRANA, Oct. 27 – Prime Minister Edi Rama said Monday Albania was making needed preparations to welcome Syrian refugees if and when they arrive in the small Adriatic-Ionian country, which has so far largely escaped the main path of refugees looking to reach northern Europe.
Rama took part at a summit of the European Union on the refugee crisis in Brussels, where there was agreement on a joint EU action plan that could see Balkan countries take in as many as 100,000 refugees.
“Albania is yet to be affected,” Rama said. “It is believed, however, that with the winter coming, a new route could be through Albania.”
Rama added that “Albania has its role to play at this delicate moment which is important for what we are now and what we could be tomorrow together, as Europeans.”
The summit tried to create a cross-border regional approach to the crisis management, through increased coordination and consultation among countries, in order to avoid a looming humanitarian disaster along the transit route.
With the coming of winter, Albania could be another route that the Syrian refugees may use — likely from the southern neighbor Greece.
That has pushed the Albanian authorities to create new shelters in southeastern Korca and southern Gjirokastra counties. Authorities have prepared a former military base as a welcome center for the refugees in Bilisht, near the Greek border.
The European Union is also concerned that people-smugglers could open a new sea route to Italy from Albania if land borders in the Balkans are sealed, EU officials said this week.
EU and Balkan leaders planned to agree on tighter supervision of the overland route to Albania from Greece, where most migrants enter Europe.
However, with Hungary sealing off its borders and other states taking similar steps, tens of thousands are now facing worsening weather stuck in the Balkans. The sea route to Italy, though made harder by mountains between
Greece and Albania, could offer a faster, but perilous journey.
Leaders of 11 European countries, as well as EU agencies agreed on a 17-point joint plan of actions to cope with Western Balkans migration flows.
“Greece, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania will strengthen the management of the external land border,” noted the plan published on Sunday.
Europe has been beset by an enormous refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants fleeing to Europe to escape violence and poverty in their home countries. More than 710,000 migrants arrived in the European Union during the first nine months of 2015, according to Frontex.
