The Times: Following Albania's refusal, Starmer will ask Kosovo to accept establishment of immigrant camps

The state of the Western Balkans is on a short list of nine countries compiled by ministers and officials as potential destinations for centres abroad, where asylum seekers rejected after they exhausted all appeals opportunities in the United Kingdom.

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani has also stated that her country would be “open for talks on a possible deal to accept Britain's failed asylum seekers. Kosovo joins Serbia, Northern Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and several countries outside Europe that are included in the list of countries with which the ministers intend to open negotiations.

Official talks with no country have yet been launched, but it is believed that ministers want to have made progress by the time Britain expects a meeting of Western Balkan leaders in London this fall, where illegal immigration will be at the top of the agenda, the newspaperExpress translates.

The ministers had hoped Albania would host one of Britain's returns centres, but Prime Minister Edi Rama ruled it out last week.

High government sources said Kosovo is a possible “country for establishing a return centre, as it is located on one of the main roads that illegal immigrants use towards the European Union. According to the British Foreign Office, nearly 22,000 illegal immigrants used the Western Balkan route to enter the EU last year.

Evidence that migrants pass through host country of return centres is seen as a key step to facilitate the legal process of deportation. Great Britain could argue that they had the opportunity to seek asylum at a safe “ ” location, but chose not to.
More than 3,000 immigrants entered the EU after passing through the Western Balkans in the first four months of this year, including 804 in April alone, according to Frontex, the EU border agency. Afghans, Turks and Syrians represented the largest number of arrivals.

Keir Starmer is facing increased pressure for his failure to curb the growing number of immigrants arriving on small boats. A record 13,573 immigrants have so far reached small boats, 37 percent more compared to the same period last year.
Kosovo, one of the poorest countries in Europe, has a population of about 1.6 million and borders with Serbia in the north and east, northern Macedonia in the southeast, Albania southwest and Montenegro in the west.

President Osmani said last week that her country would be open to the idea of sheltering one of Britain's returns centres. There has been no formal talks with Britain on the issue. It hasn't been raised so far,” she said.

We'd be open to discuss it, but I can't say more because I don't know the details. I cannot give an answer to a request that has not been made yet. ”
Several other European countries are also considering establishing foreign centres for illegal immigrants, including Italy, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Any agreement would require Britain to pay for any failed displaced asylum seekers.
Kosovo has shown willingness to reach international agreements to accept Europe's unwanted immigrants. In 2021, she agreed on a 200m-euro deal with Denmark to accept 300 foreign prisoners who will suffer the rest of their condemnation in Kosovo until they are deported to their countries of origin, even though this agreement has not yet been implemented.

David Lami, British Foreign Secretary, visited Kosovo last month, where he reached an agreement to supply British technology in order to prevent domestic use by organised crime groups from smuggling illegal goods and migrants to Britain.
The European Union announced in March that it approves that member states follow the creation of returns centres, and it is said Starmer is interested in co-operating with other European countries. The Netherlands is in negotiations with Uganda's government for opening such a return centre.

During a visit to Albania earlier this month, the prime minister confirmed that the British government is following the idea of establishing returns centres, adding: “I see them as a very important innovation. ”
Last month, The Times found that the concept of return centres had been approved by UNHCR, the United Nations Agency for Refugees, a development described as “changing games” from government sources.

Yvette Cooper, Interior Secretary, discussed the possibility of paying Balkan countries to accept Britain's failed asylum seekers during a meeting with Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. U support The NHCR for these centres is seen as essential to their realisation, as its intervention in the Supreme Court against the conservative government's scheme of deportation to Rwanda eventually led to its alleged illegal.

Labusists' plans would differ from the previous scheme of deporting conservatives to Rwanda, which was intended to send illegal immigrants to that African country on a one-way flight within days of arriving in Britain without hearing their demand for asylum. This scheme was cancelled as one of Starmer's first actions as prime minister.

Government sources have ruled out the possibility of establishing a return centre in Rwanda, as the Labusist Party does not consider it a safe place. According to these sources, each return centre must meet the three criteria set by Starmer -- be sustainable, applicable and legal “. ”/The Times