TIRANA, April 26 – Only two out of 100 Albanians who applied for asylum in EU member countries during the past couple of years have been granted protection under a final decision, according to data published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
EU member countries, mainly the UK, France and Germany granted asylum status to some 1,780 Albanians in 2015 and 2016 out of a total applications of about 95,000.
Data shows the number of positive final decision on asylum applications by Albanian citizens in the EU 28 rose to 1,025 in 2016, up from 755 in the previous year.
Europe’s largest economy Germany, where the overwhelming majority of Albanians sought asylum, granted protection to only 220 applicants.
The UK and France were the top two countries granting asylum under final decisions to Albanians in the past couple of years with 735 and 570 respectively.
An earlier Eurostat report showed the number of first time Albanian asylum seekers to EU member countries more than halved in 2016, but Albania remained for the second year in a row among the top 10 countries of citizenship seeking asylum protection in list dominated by war torn Asian and African countries and Russia.
Some 28,925 sought asylum in EU member countries in 2016, down from a record 65,935 in 2015 when the country faced a massive exodus.
Germany was once again the main destination of asylum seekers with about 15,000 or half of total first time asylum applicants in EU member countries, down from a record 54,000 in 2015.
The sharp decline in Albanian asylum seekers comes at a time when German authorities have made it clear chances asylum will be granted to Albanian citizens are exceptionally low after the country was designated as a safe country of origin by German authorities in late 2015 following a wave of migrants as rumors spread that the country needed workers.
Obvious reasons for Albanian citizens leaving their home country include high unemployment, small income which in some cases is lower than the social benefits as asylum seekers in Germany, lack of trust in state institutions perceived as corrupt and inefficient, real or perceived lack of job perspectives and unrealistic expectations compared to income in Western European countries, primarily Germany, according to a late 2016 German-funded study conducted by the Tirana-based Cooperation and Development Institute.
During the past 25 years of transition, Albania has been one of the hardest hit migration countries with an estimated more than 1.5 million people having left the country, mainly to Italy and Greece. The country’s resident population is estimated at 2.8 million compared to 4.4 million people counted on the civil registry.
