Third-country asylum plan shows UK is in ‘a very dark place', says Albanian PM
A UK plan to send refused asylum seekers to 'return hubs' in third countries shows post-Brexit Britain is 'in a very dark place', Albania's prime minister has said.
In his first interview with the international media since leading his socialist party to a historic fourth term in office, Edi Rama said the idea of the UK wanting to 'look for places to dump immigrants' would have been inconceivable a decade ago.
But it was in keeping with the shift in public discourse in Britain since Brexit, in which the 'totally unacceptable, totally ridiculous, totally shameful' had become normalised, he said.
Announced last month by Keir Starmer during a visit to the Balkan state, the 'return hubs' scheme would involve centres in a third country processing the claims of people refused asylum who have exhausted legal pathways in the UK.
'It's one of those things that 10 years ago would simply not have not been imaginable … that Britain would look for places to dump immigrants,' Rama said from Tirana, the Albanian capital.
'The fact that today it's not just imaginable, it's happening, is not because of Keir Starmer or [Rishi] Sunak doing something outrageous; it's because of the country being in a very dark place.'
Rama, who is renowned for his outspoken and contrarian views, voiced dismay at the level of public discourse in the UK. As a committed anglophile, he said, it was hard to take in.
'Eighty per cent of the things that are said, or are written, or are accepted as a normal part of the discourse in today's Britain are things that [before Brexit] would have been totally unacceptable, totally ridiculous, totally shameful,' he said.
Under former Tory governments, relations between the UK and Albania became increasingly strained, overshadowed by boat crossings and accusations of illegal Albanian immigrants 'invading' British shores.
Starmer's visit in May – the first ever by a British prime minister – – was aimed at putting bilateral relations on a new footing. While in Tirana, the Labour leader said talks were under way 'with a number of countries' to set up the hubs. But, in a move seen as a gentle rebuke to his guest, Rama said in a joint press conference that Albania would not be participating in the scheme.
Seeking to put the record straight in the interview, Rama said that Starmer, a 'very decent [and] a delightful person', had neither made the request publicly nor been the first British leader to privately broach the subject. Rama said his response had always been the same: 'I have been clear about this since Boris Johnson asked me and Rishi asked me … I've always said no.'
That Albania had previously agreed to a similar scheme with Italy's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, was different because of the 'very special relationship' the two countries had. That deal, which envisaged intercepting people at sea and taking most of them not to Italy but to a reception centre in Albania for their asylum claims to be processed, has so far been obstructed by legal objections.
From the day Albania's brutal Stalinist regime collapsed in 1991, Italy had stood by his country, Rama said. As a result his compatriots had 'a weak spot' for Rome.
'Practically we are one country made of two independent countries … Italy has been there for us in every dark moment and difficult situation since the day we got out of the hell of [being] the North Korea of Europe,' he added. '[We] have a weak spot for Italy, so when Italy asks us for something we say yes, full stop.'
Rama's stance coincides with a newfound confidence as the small country, among Europe's poorest states, makes once-unthinkable strides towards joining the EU. With a dramatic change of pace and tone that he attributes to the new 'geopolitically driven spirit' of European policymakers since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, accession negotiations have accelerated as Brussels finally seeks to embrace the western Balkans. The region has long been viewed by Moscow as falling into Russia's sphere of influence.
Sign up to This is Europe
The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment
after newsletter promotion
Rama, who turns 60 in July, ran his election campaign on the promise he would push ahead with pursuing accession to the EU. He now believes negotiations will be wrapped up by 2027 and 'within 2030 we'll be an EU member'. Albania, which joined Nato in 2009, has been an accession candidate for more than a decade.
'The whole approach to the process has dramatically changed,' he said. 'Now they [the EU] are very eager to go forward … With the Russian aggression everything changed, so somehow Vladimir Putin also did this, he made Europe much more interested in unifying.'.
He sees a similar effect on the EU from the new occupant of the White House and is '100% convinced that Donald Trump's election is a good thing for Europe'. Rama said Trump's victory jolted Europe out of its languor and had brought 'an unsettling spirit' that the world needed.
'I think that when Trump says God saved him because he had a plan for America, I think he says only half the truth. God saved him because he had a plan for Europe too, to wake Europe up,' he said.
Later this year, the Albanian painter turned prime minister will launch a 'thank you' tour of diaspora communities who, in a first, were able to vote in last month's election, helping him secure a landslide victory. More than 500,000 ethnic Albanians are thought to live in Greece alone. Rama's hope is that he can lure them back 'because now our salaries are very close to [those in] Greece and it's home'.
But the socialist party leader, at 6ft 7in (2.01 metres), a basketball player in his youth, also has his critics. Charges of corruption in Albanian society are widespread. So, too, are accusations of creeping authoritarianism – Rama will be the longest-serving leader since Enver Hoxha, the country's former brutal dictator – though the allegations are labelled farcical by admirers and mandarins in Brussels.
One former EU minister said: 'Edi is larger than life. His problem is that he is too big for his country and I am not referring to his height.'
If Albania succeeded in its membership bid, Rama said it would be 'the right and most wonderful moment to pass the torch'. It would be a personal achievement but also 'help Europe be less boring and more sunny'.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
35 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Streeting tells Israel to ‘get own house in order' in Glastonbury row
Dame Louise Ellman, former Labour MP and vice-chair of the Jewish Leadership Council, said the scenes were 'extremely chilling' and 'very frightening'. 'It's very frightening to see a performer whipping up a crowd with hate speech and specifically with anti-Semitism and hatred towards Jewish people on the public platform and particularly at a time when anti-Semitism is rising,' she said. 'It can't be possible and it can't be acceptable for performers at a major festival like this and the organisers to escape the laws of the land which are against incitement and incitement to hatred and that is simply what this is. 'Responsibility is across a number of people and primarily of course the performer who did all these things but the organisers of the festival too and the BBC as the national broadcaster. 'It is extremely chilling and very frightening and it can't go unattended to.' Former BBC executive and presenter Roger Bolton has told Times Radio that the BBC 'should have cut away' from the Glastonbury performance by Bob Vylan and 'cancelled the broadcast'. 'It's something the BBC should not have allowed to have happened,' he added.
Daily Mail
35 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Is Keir already lining up his next U-turn? Starmer faces fresh rebellion from Labour MPs over his 'family farm tax'
Sir Keir Starmer has been put on notice of a fresh Labour rebellion over the Government's 'family farm tax'. More than 40 Labour MPs are said to be considering a bid to water down looming changes to agricultural and business inheritance tax relief. It comes after the Prime Minister performed a trio of embarrassing U-turns in recent weeks. Sir Keir has reversed his position on axing the winter fuel payment for millions of pensioners, a national grooming gangs inquiry, and welfare cuts. This has left Labour rebels feeling emboldened that they can force the Government into further policy changes. According to the Telegraph, a group of Labour backbenchers are considering using amendments to legislation to exempt small family farms from a planned tax raid. At last year's Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced farmers will pay a 20 per cent rate of inheritance tax on land and property they inherit worth more than £1million. The Government has insisted the measures - dubbed the 'family farm tax' and set to be in place from April 2026 - will only affect the wealthiest quarter of landowners. But the National Farmers' Union (NFU) and others say the impact of Ms Reeves' measures will be much more widespread. Critics claim the move could wipe out family-run farms with tight margins, as they will be forced to sell up in order to pay death duties. There have been months of demonstrations by farmers in response to the Chancellor's tax raid, including tractor protests in Wesminster. A 'rural growth group' of Labour MPs is now proposing the raising of the £1million cut-off point at which estates lose their tax reliefs. They have suggested estates receive full tax relief on the value of agricultural properties up to £10million, 50 per cent to £20million, and nil thereafter. Sam Rushworth, Labour MP for Bishop Auckland, who is a member of the group, told the newspaper they would 'consider what amendments to put down'. Mr Rushworth said: 'We are all keen to avoid amendments. I don't want it to get to that point. I am a Labour MP and I broadly support the Government. 'I would like to see them bring forward different recommendations in the Bill.' Ex-Cabinet minister Louise Haigh, who was a leading rebel over the Government's now partially-reversed welfare cuts, has called for Sir Keir to 'reset' his relationship with the British public. 'I think this is a moment and an opportunity to reset the Government's relationship with the British public and to move forward, to adopt a different approach to our economic policy and our political strategy,' she told the BBC in the wake of the PM's climbdown on welfare changes. 'And I think that has been accepted from within government and a lot of people, both in the parliamentary Labour Party, but crucially, the country will really welcome that.' The Government's original welfare package had restricted eligibility for Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which is the main disability payment in England. It also cut the health-related element of Universal Credit. But, after Sir Keir offered concessions to rebel MPs, the changes to PIP will now only be implemented in November 2026 and apply to new claimants only. All existing recipients of the health element of Universal Credit will also have their incomes protected in real terms. A Government spokesman said: 'Our reforms to agricultural and business property relief are vital to fix the public services we all rely on. 'Three quarters of estates will continue to pay no inheritance tax at all, while the remaining quarter will pay half the inheritance tax that most people pay, and payments can be spread over 10 years, interest-free. 'We're investing billions of pounds in sustainable food production and nature's recovery, slashing costs for food producers to export to the EU and have appointed former NFU president Baroness Minette Batters to advise on reforms to boost farmers profits.'
The Herald Scotland
41 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Ian Blackford calls on SNP to support defence industry
At this week's NATO summit, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer committed to raising defence spending to 5% of GDP by 2035. READ MORE Mr Blackford said this was a "seismic shift" and would have "massive implications for the budgets of every government department over the next decade." "Though in these islands we have excellence in many aspects of our armed forces, to a large extent our military capability has been hollowed out," he wrote. "The need to enhance defence capability and at pace is stark. "There is now a race to invest and if we take last year's defence spending of £53.9 billion as our base, we are going to have to find by 2035 an extra £60 billion plus a year to invest in defence. "Where is this to come from?" The former MP said 'difficult choices' would need to be made. He argued that defence funding should not be seen as a moral compromise, but as an economic lever. "Austerity will be a price to be paid as a consequence of having to invest in our national security. "Investment in defence, though, can be a lever and transformative in itself in generating economic growth." He noted that the industry already supports 33,500 workers in Scotland and contributes £3.2 billion in gross value. "We all want a high-growth, high-wage, high-productivity Scotland—a society that drives investment in skills and innovation." The SNP has long opposed public money being spent on munitions. The Scottish National Investment Bank's ethical investment policy currently bars organisations 'primarily engaged in the manufacture of munitions or weapons' from receiving support. Ian Blackford calling on the SNP to embrace the defence sector (Image: PA) Recently, a new welding centre—backed by Rolls-Royce and intended to support Royal Navy submarine construction—was denied funding by Scottish Enterprise. The UK Government has since stepped in to fund the initiative. The SNP has faced accusations of hypocrisy, as the Scottish Government funds Ferguson Marine, which is subcontracted by BAE to work on Royal Navy frigates. Mr Blackford's intervention comes as John Swinney faces mounting internal and external pressure to reconsider his government's position. Recently, the First Minister suggested the policy could be "reconsidered" given the growing threat from Russia. Speaking on the Holyrood Sources podcast, he said: "I'm conscious we are living in a very different context today. I do think the Russian threat is very real. We have to consider these questions." He added he had no objections if a company wished to set up a munitions factory in Scotland. The First Minister added: "We do not use public money to support the manufacture of munitions but will support skills and defence companies." Speaking to Scotland on Sunday, Stewart McDonald, the SNP's former defence spokesperson at Westminster, said it was time for the party to look again at the policy. "It hasn't had a proper defence debate since 2012, when we changed the policy on NATO," he said. "All of this is moving at such pace. The entire international picture is moving at a rapid pace and if we are a party that seeks to be an independent state—and an independent state in NATO and the EU—then we should have stuff to say on this." Mr McDonald warned: "There is a risk the party falls behind in that debate." He said: "That's a debate going on in capitals across Europe. And although Edinburgh is not a state capital, the Scottish Government has a role to play as a domestic partner. "We have an industry in Scotland worth many billions of pounds, employing somewhere between 33,000 and 35,000 people, and it has a very awkward relationship with the Scottish Government—it has done so for a long time." He suggested Mr Swinney should gather major and smaller defence employers in Scotland, invite the defence procurement minister from London, and ask: "How do I marshal the resources of the government—spending, policy, legislative—to better support this?" "I understand there's a bit of political balancing to be done here, but I think that can be over-thought and over-egged," he added. "We do live in much more dangerous times and there's a risk we are just saying the same stuff we've been saying for a long time—and that just would not be credible to stand still politically as the entire world changes around you." Mr McDonald branded the Scottish Enterprise ban on munitions-related investment "a stupid policy" and criticised restrictions at the Scottish National Investment Bank. Meanwhile, in the Sunday Mail, Labour's Scottish Secretary, Ian Murray, called on the SNP to reverse its opposition to nuclear weapons entirely. "Any responsible government has to make sure they put their national security and the safety of their own people first. "Scots only have to turn on their TVs and pick up their newspapers to read about the fact that there is a changing global instability. "I do think the Scottish Government should readdress it." Previously, Mr Murray described himself as a 'lifelong unilateralist' and was one of 2000 parliamentarians to have signed the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) pledge, which obliges signatories to work for their respective nations to sign up to a worldwide ban on nuclear weapons through the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). He added: "My views on nuclear weapons changed some time ago but they have been underlined and emphasised by the fact that the issue of nuclear weapons and deterrence has become a huge global stability issue. "For the Scottish Government to tell Rolls-Royce, one of the most respected British institutions, that they will not contribute to them investing in a highly skilled welding academy in Glasgow tells the public that they do not care about jobs, growth and opportunities for the future. "That is a huge part of the defence dividend we should be trying to capture. Places like Babcock and BAE Systems are hiring foreign welders from the Philippines and South Africa to do the work local people should be doing." READ MORE However, SNP defence spokesperson Dave Doogan told the paper that the party remained 'resolute' in its opposition to nuclear weapons. "We believe we're firmly in step with the vast majority of civil society in Scotland on that point. "Ian Murray, consistent with many other issues, is not in step with the majority of civil society in Scotland. "I've spoken to armed forces professionals who deal with the nuclear deterrent and nobody talks about it in the triumphant way in which Westminster politicians of the two main parties do." Any change in the Scottish Government's policy would likely be met with opposition from the Scottish Greens.
