Any plans Keir Starmer had for agreeing a deal with Albania to combat Britain’s asylum seeker backlog has hit the buffers, after the Balkan country’s prime minister said his country would only process migrants from Italy.
Italian PM Giorgia Meloni earlier said that the Labour leader had expressed “great interest” in her country’s deal with Albania.
However, on Thursday Prime Minister Edi Rama told the European Parliament Albania’s deal with Italy would not be replicated.
He said: “This is an exclusive agreement with Italy because we love everyone, but with Italy we have unconditional love.”
Rama denied that the deal was agreed with Rome to further Tirana’s ambitions of joining the European Union.
“We decided to do this [migration deal] based on the feeling of responsibility as neighbours, as Europeans,” he claimed. “For sure it is better than just fighting ideologically about this issue and doing nothing.”
Under the terms of the five-year agreement struck last November between the two countries, asylum seekers intercepted at sea by Italian authorities will be moved into reception facilities in the Albanian port of Shengjin.
There asylum claims will be rapidly processed by Italian officials.
Starmer met Meloni in Rome last week and said he would “study” her deal, as the UK seeks “pragmatic” solutions to its migration crisis.
However, after Rama’s intervention, it appears any hopes the prime minister has of penning a deal with the Balkan state have been kiboshed.
This comes Starmer decided to scrap the previous Conservative administration’s Rwanda plan.