Albania's "unconditional love" for Italy means Rome has the exclusive privilege to house asylum seekers on Albanian soil, Rama told Euronews.
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00:00Albania will not allow countries other than Italy to house migrants in reception camps
00:07on its territory, Prime Minister Edi Rama has insisted, despite growing international
00:12interest in the deal.
00:14It comes days after Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her British counterpart
00:19Keir Starmer had expressed great interest in the scheme, which should see Italy transfer
00:25up to 36,000 migrants a year to two reception centers in Albania, while Rome's right-wing
00:31government processes their asylum requests.
00:35This is an exclusive agreement with Italy because we love everyone, but with Italy we
00:41have unconditioned love.
00:43The first-of-their-kind centers were first due to open in the spring of this year but
00:47are facing delays.
00:49The scheme has been hailed as out-of-the-box thinking by the European Commission president
00:53and is gaining traction among European governments.
00:56Fifteen member states, led by Denmark, have jointly called for the outsourcing of migration
01:01and asylum policy to tackle an unsustainable increase in irregular arrivals.
01:07Prime Minister Rama says his government is trying to offer a pragmatic solution to an
01:11issue that is becoming a hot-button political topic in Europe.
01:15When we decided to do this, we decided based on the feeling of responsibility as neighbors,
01:28as Europeans.
01:29Of course, we are not Europeans with a U, but we are still E, so we are Europeans and
01:37this cannot be taken from us.
01:39And this is also something we did instead of not doing anything.
01:46So is it new or is it not new?
01:49Is it innovative or is it not innovative?
01:53It will work or it will not work.
01:55This is all to be seen, but for sure it's better than just fighting ideologically about
02:03this issue and doing nothing.
02:05Rama denied that the move, described by the European Commission chief as an innovative
02:09solution to one of the bloc's most politically divisive issues, could give Albania a competitive
02:14edge in its bid for EU membership.
02:17Albania has been bidding to join the bloc for a decade.