TIRANA, Nov. 18 – Albania’s parliamentary commission on foreign affairs has debated authorities’ measures to prevent Albanian asylum seekers from going to Germany and other EU countries as well as other measures the state must take to address the root causes of the exodus earlier this year.
The political opposition has urged the Socialist-led government not avoid its responsibilities in the fact that Albanians are voting with their feet and leaving the country.
Democratic Party MP Aldo Bumà§i said the government was to blame for creating the conditions that led to Albanians having a larger per capita migration rate than Syrians. He added Albanians fled their homeland because of poverty and the violation of their human rights.
Earlier, speaking to the parliamentary commission, the German ambassador had urged MPs not to politicize the issue of asylum seekers.
Welfare Minister Blendi Klosi told the commission the Albanian government was trying to make it easier for the failed asylum seekers to reintegrate into society after repatriation.
The strategy includes introduction into the lists of job seekers who benefit from the free employment and vocational training, providing temporary housing and permanent registration of children in schools and free medical checks.
The number of Albanian asylum seekers in EU countries has increased two and a half fold in 2015 compared to last year.
In Germany alone, more than 50,000 claims have been filed this year. That’s the size of a city like Gjirokastra or Kavaja.
The German government has said Albanians are economic, not political, migrants, and as such they will all be quickly denied and deported. Nearly 6,000 have already been repatriated. And the flights are continuing.
In addition, Albanian authorities have prevented another 13,000 people from leaving the country for fear they will seek asylum, a move that has come under criticism from human rights activists.
Albanians enjoy visa-free travel to much of the EU, and Albanian authorities have an obligation to make sure the people traveling there meet certain conditions, officials say.
