Albanian Premier Edi Rama has responded to British Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s comments concerning Albanian immigrants.

Once again Rama has put blame on anyone but his government’s policies that have killed the hope of Albanian citizens that are leaving their country massively.

“Targeting Albanians (as some shamefully did when fighting for Brexit) as the cause of Britain’s crime and border problems makes for easy rhetoric but ignores hard fact. Repeating the same things and expecting different results is insane (ask Einstein!)”, tweeted Rama.

“70% of the 140,000 Albanians who have moved to the UK were living in Italy and Greece. 1200 of them are business people. Albanians in the UK work hard and pay tax. UK should fight the crime gangs of all nationalities and stop discriminating v Albanians to excuse policy failures.

Albania is a NATO country & is negotiating its EU membership. It is also a safe country of origin. When Germany had a similar problem it tightened its own systems. The UK can and should do the same not respond with a rhetoric of crime that ends up punishing the innocent.

Albania is not a rich coutry and was for a very long time a victim of empires, we never had our own.We have a duty to fight crime at home and are doing so resolutely, as cooperating closely with others too. Ready to work closer with UK but facts are crucial. So is mutual respect.”