Albanian Minister of Interior Taulant Balla held a phone conversation with the British Home Secretary Suella Braverman, to discuss relations between the two countries.
In a Twitter update, Braverman congratulated Balla on his new position.
“Pleased to speak to the new Albanian Minister for the Interior Taulant Balla and congratulate him on his new role,” wrote Braverman.
“We agreed to intensify our close working relationship to achieve our shared goals, including tackling illegal migration, corruption, and organized crime,” emphasized Braverman.
Pleased to speak to the new Albanian Minister for the Interior @taulantballa and congratulate him on his new role.
We agreed to intensify our close working relationship to achieve our shared goals, including tackling illegal migration, corruption and organised crime. 🇬🇧 🇦🇱 pic.twitter.com/PpSs3Omyvm
— Suella Braverman MP (@SuellaBraverman) July 21, 2023
The phone call comes at a time when relations between Tirana and London are unquiet, due to the recent emigration crisis. 2022 saw around 13 thousand Albanians make the journey across the Channel via people smugglers, with 85% applying for asylum once they arrived. They accounted for 30% of all crossings, causing outrage in the British media and Parliament and being swiftly weaponized by the ruling Conservatives.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Braverman hailed a huge drop in small boat crossings this year, putting it down to their new policies. The Home Office has intensified its crackdown on Albanians in the past few months, setting up a 400-strong unit to fast-track nearly 17 thousand asylum applications and raising the bar for those applying for asylum or claiming they are victims of modern slavery.
Ministers are also targeting as many as 20 thousand more Albanians who entered the UK illegally and did not apply for asylum, although they admit 70-80% may have absconded from their immigration bail.
Moreover, the British Government will reportedly pay Albania at least 4 million pounds per year to bring 200 of its most dangerous prisoners to the country, according to a ratified agreement between the two governments.
This sum will cover the costs of renovating prisons, additional security, staffing, rehabilitation equipment, and training for guards. There will also be a joint monitoring group to prevent the mistreatment of prisoners.
The Albanian Government will provide an annual report on the prisoners and their conditions, while the UK Government will have the right to conduct physical inspections. Either country can terminate the agreement through a written notice two months in advance.
Among the 200 transfers are 17 prisoners serving life sentences, including 36-year-old Koci Selamaj, murderer of 28-year-old teacher Sabina Nessa. He was sentenced to 36 years in prison for killing the teacher in a park in southeast London. He has served only two years so far, which means that the United Kingdom will pay Albania 400,000 pounds to keep him imprisoned for the remaining 34 years of his sentence.
The transfer of Albanian prisoners will help alleviate the crisis of overpopulation in British prisons while also saving money for British taxpayers.
