Thousands of young men and women – including sometimes entire families – from Albania, Kosovo and elsewhere in the region are picking up their bags, boarding buses and planes and ditching their homelands in the hope of finding a better life and work opportunities in wealthier European countries.
It is a journey that is familiar to their counterparts in places like Bulgaria and Romania in recent years, with one major distinction — citizens of the Western Balkans, EU’s non-member enclave, have no right to work and reside in the EU. As non-EU citizens even the right to travel to the bloc is strictly regulated for many.
But where there is a need, there is a way, and economically-motivated Albanians are finding a short cut – seeking political asylum, a process that guarantees at least some time and some economic support in the host country.
Data coming from a large swath of Europe – from Germany to Ireland – in recent months show an increase in asylum claims from the Western Balkans in general and from Albania in particular. It is an increase that has host countries justifiably worried.
It doesn’t help that this is happening during one of the peak times for massive migration to Europe from people seeking refuge from conflicts and dire poverty outside the continent.
Repeated calls from EU and Albanian governments for the trend to stop are not working. The government’s narrative that those leaving are being lied to by traffickers is only partially correct. Most of those leaving know that it won’t be easy, but the economic motivation is too strong not to try.
The Albanian media is telling the asylum story in two ways: First, it is covering rural Albanian towns where people are lining up to get passports so they can travel to the EU to seek asylum. Second, it is showing the bad conditions of camps in places like Germany to discourage the people from taking the journey.
There is a small fraction of the asylum seeking crowd that might have real grounds for fearing for their lives, particularly in blood feud cases – but in the vast majority of the cases the reasons they want to leave are simply related to poverty and lack of opportunities. Thus they are not genuine political refugees. But in a way, they are still refugees – of poverty and lack of opportunities at home.
The Albanian government is not happy about this. The asylum seeking trend makes it look bad domestically and internationally. But there is little officials can do in the short term. Plus, it is usually the most discontent who leave the country in the first place, not happy voters.
Thus, the top incentive to act to stop this illegal migration trend is through tougher border enforcement. Officials already strongly police who can leave the country in an effort to preserve the visa-free agreement Albania has with much of the EU.
But as Albania did its part, the exodus simply shifted routes. Now Albanians are flying to Germany and elsewhere out of Greece, Macedonia and Bulgaria instead.
Addressing the symptom will not solve the problem. As long as there is poverty, unemployment and lack of quality state services in Albania, Albanians will continue to try to leave.
The best solution – other than the theoretical “let’s make Albania better” 50-year plan — is to channel that drive toward legal migration, rather than through bogus asylum claims.
Contrary to the angry stereotypes in Western Europe, the vast majority of economic migrants want to work hard and make a good living, not try to get state benefits.
Officials in Albania and the EU host countries must investigate the possibility of programs for both unskilled and skilled workers that can fill genuine needs in host countries. They can create some labor mobility for Albanians even before the country joins the European Union.
One must think beyond the immediate problem. The economic crisis in the EU will not last forever, and demographic trends show northwestern European countries will need to rejuvenate their labor force. Albanians and others from the region can help to fill the gap.
It could be a win-win situation in the long run. But clearer thinking and planning is needed.
