Joint press conference of Prime Minister Edi Rama, Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri:
Prime Minister Edi Rama: I don’t want to take much time by repeating what was already said at the launch of the first European Boarder and Coast Guard Joint Operation as a result of an agreement signed by Commissioner Avramopulos himself on fifth of October 2018 during a Tirana conference of the Minister of Interior of the Western Balkans. I would just like to emphasize and reiterate the fact that this is the first agreement the EU signs with a non-member state in the area of protecting the EU external borders and the agreement places Albania in an extremely special position as a contributor towards protection of the EU borders from illegal immigration and, on the other hand, it offers us a golden opportunity to strengthen our cooperation with FRONTEX in the framework of the fight against organized crime, being fully aware of the indispensability of success in this initiative which will be followed by other accords with other countries in our region.
It represents a moment of deepening the security cooperation between the European Union and the Western Balkan countries and it constitutes one of the six vectors of the European Commission’s strategy on the Western Balkans launched last February.
Without wasting time, once again I would like to thank the Commissioner for his special commitment to this strategic project for the Western Balkans and I will immediately give the floor to the friends who honour us with their presence today.
Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos: Thank you very much Mr. Prime Minister for the opening and welcoming remarks! Honourable friends. As a I stated earlier, today is another milestone in the EU’s cooperation with the Western Balkans. Trust me, I am very pleased to be again here in Tirana with Prime Minister Edi Rama and European Border and Coast Guard Agency Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri.
We are here today to open an entirely new chapter in our cooperation on migration and border management. Today we are also seeing a concrete example of how the strengthened European Border and Coast Guard Agency can provide increased support to our neighbouring countries.
Tomorrow, the first European Border and Coast Guard teams will be deployed in Albania. They will support Albanian border guards with equipment and staff at crucial sections of the border with Greece.
Trust me. This is a historical step: it will be the first time that European Border and Coast Guard Teams are deployed in a non-EU country and can assist a partner country directly on the ground.
When it comes to protecting our borders, ensuring our security and managing migration, the challenges we face are common indeed, and so must be our response. This is why we are working together, in a spirit of solidarity and responsibility sharing, and this is why the EU negotiated together with Albania a status agreement allowing for European Border and Coast Guard deployments in Albania.
Let me make this clear: Albania remains ultimately responsible for the protection of its borders, and all activities by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency will be conducted in agreement with of course the Albanian authorities, but also with the neighbouring EU Member State Greece.
What European Border and Coast Guard teams will do is lending their full assistance and support, in a spirit of mutual cooperation. As you understand, this is in our interest, in the interest of Albania and also in the interest of the whole Western Balkan region.
The deployments of European Border and Coast Guard teams are a game changer in the way we manage our common borders. European Border and Coast Guard teams will for instance be able to support Albanian border guards in performing border checks at crossing points. While the overall situation along the Western Balkans route remains stable with continuously low levels of arrivals, this closer cooperation will allow for us to respond quickly if needed and will help us to jointly address migratory movements. It will also bring significant added value in combating cross-border crime and smuggling of migrants throughout the region. To the EU, Albania is more than a neighbour. Albania is part of the European family, and this new chapter in our cooperation is a turning point in the way we manage migration and borders together.
I wish to personally thank Prime Minister Rama and the Albanian authorities for this achievement and this has been accomplished thanks to the mutual trust to achieve such a significant thing. At the same time, let me extend my thanks also to each and every one of the staff members deployed under European Border and Coast Guard teams and those Member States that have contributed with personnel.
Today is an important day for Albania and for the EU. This paves the way for closer cooperation with the whole Western Balkan region. Similar agreements with the European Border and Coast Guard have in the meantime also been successfully negotiated with the Republic of North Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro and I look forward to their swift finalisation.
Step by step we are bringing the Western Balkan region closer to the EU and the whole region to a permanent stable and peaceful geopolitical environment. Today is one such step forward.
Likewise, allow me to express my thanks to Fabrice Leggeri for his commitment. I also would like to thank the Ambassador here, my friend Luigi, who has been a great ambassador and great contributor to the enhancement and deepening of the relations between Albania and the European Union.
Thank you!
FRONTEX Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri: First of all, I would like to thank Mr. Prime Minister of Albania for the excellent cooperation between the Albanian authorities and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency. I would also like to thank Commissioner European Commissioner Avramopulos for being here. The result of what we are celebrating today is that of his political vision as a Commissioner and we all European Border and Coast Guard Agency teams are grateful.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am glad you have joined us on this special day here in Tirana. This is indeed a milestone not only for FRONTEX, but also for the wider cooperation between the European Union and Albania, as we all already said.
Our Agency has been assisting border authorities at the external borders of the European Union for a couple of years. And our mandate was reinforced after 2016 under the mandate of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency. Our officers, our vessels, airplanes, our patrol cars are present right now in Spain, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria and many other countries within the EU. We are at sea borders, land borders and dozens of international airports and right now in total we are deploying between 1200 border guards and 1500 border and coast guard officers in whole EU.
We have close to 25 vessels, as well as dozens of planes and helicopters, but today this is the first time that we are posting border guards from around the European Union in a country outside the European Union. So, these officers will wear their national uniforms along with the blue armed band, showing that they are part of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency. Of course, this is not the first time we are cooperating with Albania.
We have been already closely cooperating with Albania for a decade since the Agency signed a work arrangement with the Ministry of Interior of Albania in 2009. This provided the basis for cooperation across areas ranging from joint analytical work, exchange of observers in operational areas and cooperation in training activities for the border guards. For many years also Albania has been hosting observer from various border guard authorities of the EU member states.
At the same time, many Albanian border guards have acted as observers within our operations at different EU external borders. But today we take this cooperation to a new and unprecedented level.
Starting tomorrow, we will have 50 officers from Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Slovenia, working side by side with their Albanian colleagues at Albania’s border with Greece. The operation has many important goals. One of them is to control migratory flows. The second goal is to combat cross-border crime together as part of border management. We will focus on combating in trafficking in human beings and terrorism and identifying possible security risks and threats. Officers deployed by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency will support the detection of stolen cars, drugs and weapons. They will also help to identify the false documents and identify and establish the nationality of the irregular migrants. Since the Agency’s role is not to replace but provide additional assistance to the national authorities, all operational activities will be performed in the presence of the Albanian officers. Our European officers will bring patrol cars, thermal vision van and other surveying equipment, as well as equipment to detect forged documents.
So, the cooperation with the Western Balkan countries is a priority for us, because it is a key transit region for migrants. The Western Balkans are one of the main migratory routes into the European Union and it was a key corridor during the migratory crisis in 2015 and early 2016. So far this year we are seeing double increase in the number of detections of the border irregular crossings than in the same period of the previous year. In the first four months of this year, we have recorded nearly 3500 detections at the EU borders in the region. So the region is also affected by different cross-border crimes and for all this region it is important that our agency now can deploy this joint operation hosted by Albania. We can only be effective at fighting crime that crosses borders if we work together across the borders.
Thank you very much!
-From your point of view, how realistic are the concerns of the Dutch Parliament, asking for the return of the visa regime for Albanian nationals?
Commissioner Avramopoulos: First of all, we never make comments on whatever is done and discussed and decided in the national parliaments, but since the essence of your question has to do with the mechanism of visa suspension and I think and understand this is of great interest for you, to date, I would say, the Commission has not received any notifications from member states, requesting the visa suspension mechanism, or to be triggered for any country around Europe that has benefited from visa free travel in the Schengen countries. So, this is clear. Should in case the Commission ever receives such a notification, believe me, we will carefully asses and analyse whether actions are to be made in line of course with the procedures and based on relevant data and available information regarding the specific circumstances of a certain country. So, this is clear from our side.
-Is there any time limit for this agreement? Or is there a mandate that is renewable or is it limitless?
Commissioner Avramopoulos: No, of course not. I mean, it is not limitless, but it would be here as long as it is needed. We were already very clear before on explaining what does it mean. It is a joint operation and I believe it is in the interest of both Albania and the European Union.
FRONTEX Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri: At the level of the operational aspect, it would probably be better to explain how we assess the results. We have a continued evaluation process and as Commissioner Avramopoulos said there is no time limit. What we usually do in our joint operations and deployment is that we plan it for the budget in the framework of the annual budget and then at the beginning of the next year we review, evaluate and see the ways how we can improve if needed, but our intention is to have a long-standing cooperation with Albania.
-How important is to Albania this cooperation with FRONTEX and the country’s integration processes?
PM Edi Rama: I believe the Commissioner can provide a more accurate answer to this question. On my part and on our part indeed, I believe this is an extraordinary moment in the framework of Albania’s further advancement towards the EU, because it makes Albania a contributor to the security of EU borders and on the other hand it has a special value to us, because, as I earlier said and as the friend on my side also stated, it ensures an enhanced interaction in terms of information exchange, risk analysing for jointly dealing with a very complex challenge and it necessarily enhances also the quality of our capacities in this area.
Commissioner Avramopoulos: This agreement, as the Prime Minister said, brings Albania closer to the European Union. From our side, from the European Commission’s side, we already recommended in 2018 the opening of the negotiations with Albania and we will stick to this opinion. As you now, the College will present its Progress Report very soon. But, as you know it is ultimately the Council the one to take the decision about opening the negotiations. Since last June, Albania has made substantial progress when it comes to the justice reform and the fight against organized crime and cannabis cultivation. And this has to be acknowledged. But this progress needs to continue and needs to be sustained. Continuous work is needed also to reduce the number of unfounded asylum applications in the EU member states. I am really glad to see how committed the Albanian authorities are to achieve this goal.
-Earlier we heard about a plan on establishing the so-called hotspots for migration in third countries. Albania was one of the names that came up during this conversation. Is this plan still being discussed?
Commissioner Avramopoulos: I don’t know we referred to Albania. It has never happened and it has never been discussed in Brussels. So, I would not answer to an inexistent question. The European Union is not going to outsource its responsibilities. It is not only about Albania. It is about other countries and Northern Africa too. I have been clear from day one. We have never discussed it. We have never raised this question and to be frank with you I have never seen any other country wishing to accept such centres.
-The Commissioner said earlier that whatever happens in Albania affects the European Union too. Mr. Prime Minister, few days ago you stated that whoever attempts to affect the elections will be under investigation on electoral crime charges and they will be stripped of the right to travel to EU and the United States of America. Have you received the backing from the EU member states about this statement?
PM Edi Rama: As you heard the madam moderating this press conference, we are here to answer questions on this topic only. As to other topics, whoever will be seeking that answer, he will receive it when deserving it.
