On January 31, 2024, in the premises of Europe House, took place the roundtable for Chapter 24 – Justice, Freedom, Security by the Ministry of Interior and the European Movement in Albania, as part of the Partnership Platform for European Integration and the National Convention for European Integration. This activity was organised under the action “Building Partnership on Fundamental Issues: Empowering CSOs for the EU membership process” supported by the European Union (IPA CSF 2021).

The Deputy Minister of Interior, Besfort Lamallari said that at the current stage, it is very important to commit and implement all plans and activities which are reflected in the Roadmap for the Rule of Law, which, according to the Deputy Minister, should serve as a compass for all planned initiatives. In order to accomplish the set objectives, cooperation and operational commitment are key, combined with the assistance and support from international organisations such as IOM, Europol, FRONTEX and also from EU Member States. Regarding the cooperation that Albanian institutions are constantly strengthening with the European agencies, the Deputy Minister mentioned that various meetings and visits that have been conducted by the Albanian institutions with Frontex and the European Union Asylum Agency, which are valuable for establishing the cooperation bridges, but also for getting to know the work of these agencies more closely, explaining the standards and concretizing the issues that are directly related to the Roadmap of the Rule of Law and the action measurements that Albania must undertake. He emphasised that operational cooperation is crucial in order to successfully achieve all foresseen objectives.

Suela Jahaj, Director for Integration, Coordination, Agreements and Assistance at the Ministry of Interior, in her speech once again underlined the importance that the Roadmap for the Rule of Law has for the negotiation process for Chapter 24. She said that this Roadmap can be described in other terms as a binding working document for the Ministry of Interior for implementing all the forthcoming reforms, including the new National Strategy for Migration. According to Jahaj, the Migration Strategy can be considered as an ambitious project that will be carried out in close cooperation between state institutions and international partners, and is based on two action plans.

Gledis Gjipali, Executive Director of the European Movement in Albania highlighted the fact that these consultation meetings offer the opportunity to bring together non-state actors, experts and public institutions, making it possible for experts to contribute and become part of the process, as well as for the interest groups to express their issues and concerns related to Chapter 24. Gjipali reiterated how important is the support that the European Union and other international partners are offering to make this process as meaningful as possible and to bring tangible results. It is important for the process to be sustainable and continuously followed for consultation of the main issues regarding Chapter 24. He emphasised that the inclusion of Slovak and European expertise in migration topics is valuable, as this remains an issue that always exceeds the borders of a single country and it should always be seen and evaluated at a wider level, regional or European.

Silvana Banushi, General Director of Development for Migration and Asylum at the Ministry of Interior, presented in more detail the new National Migration Strategy for the period 2024-2030, stressing out that this Strategy is oriented and has taken into consideration the objectives and priorities that are defined in other strategic documents, such as the National Strategy for Development and Integration, but also on the reports and recommendations issued by the EU in the framework of European integration, such as the Annual Report of the European Commission, the Report on the mechanism of suspension of visa liberalisation, the Action Plan of EU for the Western Balkans and others. The priorities of the Strategy for migration management are related to the prevention of irregular migration and decelerating what is considered as abusive asylum-seeking. The return and sustainable reintegration of Albanian citizens as well as the effective management of migratory flows, where the priority is the protection of vulnerable groups, remains also a priority. Regarding the asylum process in Albania, maximal effective functionality is intended through actions under this strategy. The strategy has four Political Objectives which aim thet migration management, the connection of migration with employment and positive socio-economic impact, the promotion of regular migration and the integration of the foreigners in Albania, as well as guaranteeing the rights of asylum seekers and refugees. According to Banushi, the Strategy will be continuously monitored periodically, for which an inter-institutional mechanism for coordination and monitoring has been set up, which consists of: the Technical Committee for Migration, which is headed by the Deputy Minister of Interior and consists of heads of departments/directorates, The Working Group for Migration as a consultative body to assess the overall progress and the Technical Secretariat for Migration which is the Migration Sector in the Directorate of Migration and Anti-trafficking in the Ministry of Interior.

Saimir Boshnjaku, Director of the Border and Migration Police, gave an overview of the Albanian legislation on irregular migration, mentioning two important laws, the Law on Asylum and the Law on Foreigners. When we talk about irregular migrants, he clarified that there are two categories included – the category of foreign citizens who come to Albania, and the category of Albanian citizens who enter or stay irregularly in another country. As for Albanian citizens with irregular stay in the European Union, Albania has a readmission agreement with the EU and for these citizens it should be tackled on their return to Albania. According to Boshnjaku, the management of irregular Albanian citizens towards the United Kingdom (mainly passing through France and using the fact of visa liberalisation with the EU) has been very challenging. He estimated that there are about 12 thousand irregular Albanian citizens in the UK, but it should be known that there is a cooperation between the Albanian, French and British police for their identification. As for irregular foreign nationals in Albania, the fact that there has been a decrease in the number of them crossing our country in recent years is positive, and this comes as a result of increased cooperation between the Albanian police with neighbouring countries such as Greece, Montenegro and Kosovo. Regarding the treatment of irregular foreigners, the problem is that they are often threatened by organised groups that carry out smuggling. Irregular foreigners are sent to the closed centre in Karrec, while transit centres have also been set up in Kapshtica and Gjirokastra, since the border with Greece is the one used mostly for crossing to Albania. The migrants’ treatment presents challenges considering that the categories of irregular migrants are different, being divided into four categories (asylum seekers, victims, unaccompanied minors and irregular migrants), and due to the experiences and the country they come from, some have need for psycho-social treatment. The agreement with Frontex aims to support the work of the Border Police, emphasising that the management and the coordination of the work plan remains the responsibility of the Albanian state, but Frontex supports this process and the operations undertaken. This cooperation has brought positive results, where in the Greek border, irregular crossings have been reduced by up to 90%.

Jana Jurickova, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Border and Foreign Police of the Presidium of the Slovak Police presented the challenges of irregular migration in Slovakia, focusing on the organisational structure of the country as well as the role of Frontex and the challenges that EU countries have faced in the last years and how they were managed. She explained that the Office of the Border and Foreign Police of the Presidium of the Police Force was established in 2000 as an authority with pan-Slovak scope for the area of ​​border control. Within its organisational structure, three management levels have been established – central, regional and local. It directly manages subordinate organisational units in the performance of tasks in the field of border control, the fight against irregular migration, smuggling and human trafficking, including also the risk analysis, cooperation with the Frontex agency and cooperation with Europol. The primary objective of this structure is to ensure an unified approach to border control, an unified system of planning and preparation, and an extensive and rapid flow of information at all levels of management, with the main task to be the implementation of “Integrated Border Management”. She highlighted that the unexpected challenges such as Covid 19 pandemic and war in Ukraine, as well as hybrid threats made the managing of the influx of migrants very challenging to be handled, both from the point of view of border control, as well as ensuring their subsequent care, registration and their temporary or permanent integration. Jurickova mentioned that in order to ensure security and manage the influx due to the armed conflict in Ukraine, the personnel resources for border control and border surveillance were increased immediately after the start of the conflict from its own resources and strengthened by members of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic, who assist in managing the flow of people at border crossings and in the performance of border surveillance on the green border. Both the Slovak Republic and Czechia provided personnel and technical support by sending members of the foreign police. The personnel resources were also supplemented by Frontex agency workers. In Slovakia there is a National Point of Contact when it comes to cooperation with Frontex and there are deployed 171 officials of the Category 3 with profiles such as: border surveillance, border control, document specialist, cross-border crime specialist, information officer, debriefer, and migrant registration and 12 officials of the Category 2 with profiles such as: border surveillance, document specialist, escort specialist for returns. Slovakia hosts 57 members of the Standing Corps especially at the Slovak-Ukrainian border.

The presentation of the panellists was followed by a session of comments and suggestions from the participants in the meeting, where was discussed further on the implementation and monitoring of the Strategy, the achievements so far and the role of cooperation with European agencies in fulfilling the planned measures.