The UK’s plan to send rejected asylum seekers to “return centers” in third countries shows that post-Brexit Britain is in a “desperate position,” said Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama in an interview with The Guardian.
In his first international media interview after leading his Socialist Party to a historic fourth consecutive term, Rama stated that the idea of Britain “looking for countries to dump migrants” would have been unthinkable just a decade ago.
However, he added, this reflects the shift in public discourse in Britain after Brexit, where “completely unacceptable, laughable, and shameful things” have become normalized.
The “return centers” scheme, announced last month by Keir Starmer during a visit to Albania, proposes the establishment of centers in third countries to process asylum applications of those who have exhausted all legal avenues in the UK.
“It’s one of those things that 10 years ago would have been unimaginable… that Britain would look for countries to place migrants,” Rama told The Guardian from Tirana.
“The fact that it’s not only imaginable today but is happening, is not because Keir Starmer or [Rishi] Sunak are doing something scandalous; it’s because the country is in a very desperate situation.”
Known for his candid and often unorthodox views, Rama expressed concern over the state of public discourse in the UK. As a self-declared Anglophile, he said it was hard to come to terms with the current reality.
“80% of what is said, written, or accepted as normal in Britain today would have been totally unacceptable, laughable, and shameful before Brexit,” he said.
Relations between the UK and Albania had deteriorated during previous Conservative governments, who frequently cited Albanian migrants in the context of illegal Channel crossings.
Starmer’s visit in May – the first ever by a British Prime Minister to Albania – aimed to reset bilateral relations. During the visit, Starmer stated that discussions were ongoing “with a number of countries” about setting up the centers. Yet in a joint press conference, Rama firmly stated that Albania would not be part of such a scheme.
Clarifying this point in the interview, Rama said Starmer – a “very polite and pleasant man” – never made the request publicly, and he was not the first UK leader to raise the issue privately. Rama said his answer had always been the same:
“I was clear on this since Boris Johnson and Rishi [Sunak]… I always said no.”
Rama acknowledged that Albania had agreed to a similar scheme with Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, but said it was different due to the “very special relationship” between the two countries. That agreement involves intercepting migrants at sea and sending most of them not to Italy, but to a reception center in Albania, where their asylum claims would be processed. However, the deal has been stalled by legal challenges.
Since the fall of its Stalinist regime in 1991, Italy has been by Albania’s side, Rama said. As a result, Albanians have “a soft spot” for Italy.
“We’re practically one nation split into two independent states… Italy has been there for us at every dark moment since the day we emerged from being the North Korea of Europe,” he said.
“So when Italy asks for something, we say yes, period.”
