Dear Minister,

As you know, the summit of the European Council will take place later this month in Brussels, which, among others, will decide on opening or not the accession negotiations with Albania and creating a center (or several of them) to host refugees from the Middle East and North Africa. The European media write about an initiative of a number of European countries to build this camp of asylum seekers in Albania, with an expected number of 600 thousand refugees. The media also write about another center in Albania for the reeducation of the several thousand of former fighters of the Islamic State. Albanian Premier Edi Rama has offered himself presumably in exchange for opening the membership negotiations.

Sir,

Maybe you are not in the know, but Albania has a population of 4.3 million out of which 1.5 million have emigrated to other countries after the collapse of the communism, with nearly half a million of Albanian living in Italy only. Out of 2.8 million residents in Albania, only in the last four years 167 thousand have sought asylum in EU countries (being second only to Syrians) not to count those who have not been registered. As one can see, nearly a third of Albanians have emigrated and we are ourselves a migrating people.

According to UNCHR statistics, the following were the countries with the highest number of refugees per thousand in the end of 2017:

1. Lebanon with 164

2. Jordan with 71

3. Turkey 43

4. Uganda with 32

5. Chad with 28

All these are neighbouring countries with conflict areas.

If 600 thousand refugees will be relocated to Albania as it is being talked about, then the number of refugees per thousand will be nearly 230!

Europe has a huge problem with migrants, Italy even more, but Albania cannot be the solution to this problem. Albania is not the cause of the civil war in Syria and North African countries and there’s no reason for it to pay the consequences.

In addition to the moral aspect, there’s also another more important one: Albania’s impossibility to assume this role and the unimaginable consequences not only to Albania but to Italy as well. Albania’s GDP is only $15.3 billion, whereas the annual government budget is only $4.5 billion. The years 2015-2016 saw a dire increase of cannabis cultivation in Albania, followed as a consequence with the increase of oversea traffic. The Albanian government never gave a clear answer about the production quantity, but the State Police bragged (by lying) in 2016 they had destroyed nearly 2.3 million cannabis plants. One cannabis plant produces at least one kilogram. The prices at the time were 600 €/kg in the harbor of Durrës, 900 €/kg in the harbor of Bari, 1200 in Rome and 1500 in Milan. You can make the counts by yourself.

The then-Interior Minister currently is under investigation over direct implication in the drugs traffic.

Contemporaneously with the massive spread of cannabis cultivation and traffic in Albania in 2016 there was an extraordinary flux of Syrian refugees towards Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary in their rout to Western and Northern Europe. According to credible sources, Albanian traffickers had order nearly 300 powerful dinghy boats waiting for a flux towards Albania. Despite of being a historic tying of East with West, Albania was not affected by the refugee wave in 2015-2016.

Dear Minister,

Locating 600 thousand of refugees and terrorists in Albania, while waiting for their asylum requests being dealt with in the EU member countries, means opening the gates of hell not only to Albania but to Italy as well. Albanian traffickers have a long history of smuggling human beings from Albania to Italy. As far as 2005 it was the most lucrative criminal activity of the Italian and Albanian groups of organized crime. In Albania’s demographic, politic, economic and geographic circumstances you must prepare yourselves for an eruption of this criminal activity. Albania is among the poorest countries in the region, with weak institutions, galloping corruption and penetration of the organized crime in all the levels of governance. Your current counterpart’s brother is a person that has been sentenced in Italy for international drugs traffic. The institutions of the national security are weak, ill-financed and without the necessary capacities to manage such a situation concerning the public safety, intelligence and anti-terror. The number Arabian-speakers in these institutions is inconsiderable and so is the capacity of gathering intelligence with such a number of refugees.

If you really think that such a hosting center should be built in Albania (by removing your problem and sticking it to Albania) then you’d better be prepared to receive them not simply as immigrants but also as trafficked human beings! If it really happens, in addition to Syrians, Afghans and Africans, the Albanians will join the race of who leaves this country first.