Prime Minister Rama insists Albania migrant deal 'exclusive' to Italy as more countries eye scheme

Albania's "unconditional love" for Italy means Rome has the exclusive privilege to house asylum seekers on Albanian soil, Rama told Euronews.

Transcript

00:00Albania will not allow countries other than Italy to house migrants in reception camps

00:07on its territory, Prime Minister Edi Rama has insisted, despite growing international

00:12interest in the deal.

00:14It comes days after Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her British counterpart

00:19Keir Starmer had expressed great interest in the scheme, which should see Italy transfer

00:25up to 36,000 migrants a year to two reception centers in Albania, while Rome's right-wing

00:31government processes their asylum requests.

00:35This is an exclusive agreement with Italy because we love everyone, but with Italy we

00:41have unconditioned love.

00:43The first-of-their-kind centers were first due to open in the spring of this year but

00:47are facing delays.

00:49The scheme has been hailed as out-of-the-box thinking by the European Commission president

00:53and is gaining traction among European governments.

00:56Fifteen member states, led by Denmark, have jointly called for the outsourcing of migration

01:01and asylum policy to tackle an unsustainable increase in irregular arrivals.

01:07Prime Minister Rama says his government is trying to offer a pragmatic solution to an

01:11issue that is becoming a hot-button political topic in Europe.

01:15When we decided to do this, we decided based on the feeling of responsibility as neighbors,

01:28as Europeans.

01:29Of course, we are not Europeans with a U, but we are still E, so we are Europeans and

01:37this cannot be taken from us.

01:39And this is also something we did instead of not doing anything.

01:46So is it new or is it not new?

01:49Is it innovative or is it not innovative?

01:53It will work or it will not work.

01:55This is all to be seen, but for sure it's better than just fighting ideologically about

02:03this issue and doing nothing.

02:05Rama denied that the move, described by the European Commission chief as an innovative

02:09solution to one of the bloc's most politically divisive issues, could give Albania a competitive

02:14edge in its bid for EU membership.

02:17Albania has been bidding to join the bloc for a decade.