Belgian official tells Albanian seeking asylum is a futile enterprise
TIRANA, Jan. 21 – Police said they had arrested three ethnic Albanians from Kosovo who had applied for Albanian passports using fake identities.
Citizens of Albania have been freely travelling to all European Schengen member countries since 2010, but Kosovo Albanians still need visas, making Albanian passports attractive for Kosovo citizens seeking to go to northwestern EU countries to apply for asylum.
Belgium has warned Albanians such moves are futile. Theo Francken, a senior Belgian official, came to Albania this week to meet with top law-enforcement authorities. He also visited Shkodra, where 60 percent of the 500 asylum requests in 2014 came from.
Francken said that though there is no threat for the visa regime return, if such a trend continues Belgium and other countries in that area — Germany, Britain, France — may decide to reinstall it.
Albania is third in the rank of the threat for such countries with asylum requests following Serbia and Macedonia.
