TIRANA, Sept. 21 – Deputy Prime Minister Niko Peleshi said this with week Tirana has not pledged to receive Syrian refugees who have poured into the region and the EU, but added the country was preparing should the influx change direction into Albania.
Peleshi spoke in a press conference following local media reports that Albania eoulf accept 75,000 Syrian refugees from the European Union. The reports, which were then picked by international media through Twitter, were wrong, the government said.
“I wish to clarify that we do not have any indication of a possible influx in the next few days but since this has affected our neighbors like Greece and Macedonia, we want to be prepared,” Peleshi said.
Last week Prime Minister Edi Rama said the country would welcome Syrian refugees if they came to the country. But most refugees are not interested in the Balkans, wanting to move to the wealthy northern part of the continent instead.
Peleshi added that he had held a meeting with other ministers to discuss on possibilities of welcoming refugees in case of an emergency.
“We have called a working group and issued orders to evaluate our capacities, but I must insist that we do not have any information on what could happen,” Peleshi said.
Syrians do not prefer coming to Albania where they find no transporting means toward northern Europe, as they do in Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary and up to Austria or Germany.
