Albania Is driving its people away with lies and poverty

The financial times also Drew Attention to the burning issue of albanian Illegal immigrants crossing into great Britain Via the english Channel.

As the American newspaper reports, with photos and videos uploaded to Instagram and TikTok, drug dealers and traffickers are luring young men from deprived areas of Albania to make the dangerous journey to Britain.

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Young Albanians are crossing the English Channel in search of a better future in Great Britain, although in their case in particular that future is rather uncertain. The phenomenon is not new. However, in recent months it has taken on – according to the British government – worrying proportions.

According to British authorities, the number of Albanians arriving illegally in the country via the English Channel increased by 43% between May and September this year. Suela Braverman, the UK Home Secretary, described the wave as an “invasion” and many of the migrants as “criminals”, provoking an angry response from Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.

Albanians have a tradition of migration that goes back centuries, the Financial Times reports in an article, with an eye on the generations of Albanians who migrated in recent decades to escape the extreme poverty and isolation of the Hoxha era, economic problems, the war in Kosovo, etc.

According to the Albanian statistical institute Instat, about a third of Albanians – 1.7 million people – now live outside Albania’s borders. Of these, around 150,000 live in Britain. For those who remain behind in Albania, the average monthly salary is 60,000 Lek, or 513 euros, according to Instat. However, in remote rural areas of Albania such as Kukës in the north, wages can be significantly lower.

“The situation in Kukës is borderline. Institutions are collapsing. Schools built for 300 children now have 50. Jobs are disappearing. The University of Tirana has closed its local branch. There is no vision for anyone to live there,” Albanian business consultant Edval Zoto told the FT.

Trafficking networks, most of which are also drug trafficking networks that send shipments of “substances” to Britain, are trying to exploit this situation. With photos and videos that they upload to social media, on websites such as Instagram and TikTok, they lure young men from deprived rural areas of Albania to make the dangerous journey to Britain. Through these videos, they promise the young men a better life in Britain, a life rich in luxury and entertainment. However, to cross the English Channel, one must give around 5,000 pounds (5,700 euros) to the traffickers who undertake not only to get them across but also to provide them with false documents.

“What they show you on social media is not reality… Don’t go there illegally,” the UK ambassador to Albania Alastair King-Smith recently said, urging young people not to believe what traffickers present to them.

“Albanian nationals play a significant role in international drug trafficking and organized crime networks, while Albania is a key element of the Balkan drug trafficking route to Western Europe and the United Kingdom […] The relatively weak rule of law, corruption, and high unemployment are the main factors behind Albania’s drug control problem,” the State Department noted in a report (“International Narcotics Control Strategy Report”) released last March.

"Poverty and false promises are luring Albanians to the United Kingdom," notes the Financial Times, shedding light on an issue that has caused political controversy not only on the London-Tirana axis but also within the Albanian borders.

The opposition Democratic Party of Albania accuses Prime Minister Edi Rama of fostering a corrupt and authoritarian regime during his nine years in power that is forcing young people to leave the country if they want to progress. In the same vein, the opposition organized an anti-government demonstration in Tirana last Saturday, reportedly attended by tens of thousands of people.

Opposition politician Aldo Bumci, a former minister under Prime minister berisha, also accuses The west of turning a blind eye to Rama, because albania Is a loyal western ally in a region of instability such as the Balkans.

Financial Times