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Britain's new Labor government under Keir Starmer has pledged to do more on immigration and reduce the number of people crossing the UK illegally.
She has scrapped the previous Conservative government's controversial plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, but some reports suggest she is eyeing Italy's deal to send asylum seekers to Albania for processing.
Cooperation on immigration expanded last week, when the UK announced new deals with three Western Balkan countries, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia.
According to the United Kingdom, the new agreements are based on the experience of the previous Albania-United Kingdom agreement to deal with immigration, signed in May when the then foreign minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron visited Tirana.
While illegal immigration remains a high priority for the UK public, the latest data from the European Union's border agency, Frontex, revealed a whopping 80 per cent drop in irregular crossings along the "Western Balkan route". during the first ten months of this year.
This could add credibility to Labour's plan to curb illegal crossings.
However, the extent of the newly signed agreements with the three Balkan countries remains unclear. Other than intelligence sharing and cooperation, there is little publicly available information about the details. The UK Home Office and North Macedonia's Interior Ministry did not disclose details when asked for comment.
Smugglers are considered a "serious threat to global security"
Unlike the Conservative Party, which backed the Rwandan scheme, Starmer has vowed to do things differently and instead focus on stopping migrant-trafficking gangs and disrupting their business model.
Speaking at Interpol's general assembly in Glasgow, Scotland, earlier this month, he declared that the UK would treat smugglers as "terrorists" and rely more on counter-terrorism tactics.
"People smuggling should be seen as a global security threat, similar to terrorism. "We need to combine resources, share intelligence and tactics, and tackle a problem by working together to shut down smuggling routes," Stamer said at the assembly.
Andi Hoxhaj, a lecturer at King's College London, describes Starmer's approach as more moderate than that of the previous Conservative government. However, he points out that the policies are similar in essence, as both focus on prevention.
It's an approach that "works in line with voters' perception that the new government should be tough on crime and so on," he explained.
Asked about the recent agreements with the Balkans, Hoxhaj considers them an "easy diplomatic victory for Labour", referring to the relatively short time span in which these agreements were concluded after the Labor Party won the general election this summer.
He points out that preparatory work had been going on in the background for some time. "There were already ongoing talks from previous governments, so it wasn't that Labor suddenly started from scratch because they were already discussing this," he told BIRN.
Information sharing at the heart of new agreements
The agreements with the three countries of the Western Balkans were announced last week at the meeting of the European Political Community in Budapest.
In light of the fallout from Brexit, the new UK government is making it a priority to improve security partnerships with various European countries. Post-Brexit security arrangements have reduced the UK's access to vital European intelligence-sharing databases and capabilities.
According to Downing Street, over 100,000 migrants used the so-called Western Balkans route last year and the route has been described as a "key route" for those who see the EU and the UK as the final stop.
"The agreements will increase the sharing of intelligence, expertise and cooperation to track criminal gangs as they transit vulnerable people through these countries, arrest them and destroy their patterns of work at source," the announcement said. for press.
Information sharing is at the heart of these deals because it plays a big role in understanding how crime groups operate, said Magdalena Lembovska Young, an associate analyst at Sibylline in London.
She expects that, in addition to the exchange of information, the focus will also be placed on the mechanisms of integrity and accountability of the institutions involved due to their previous records.
"Unfortunately, in all three countries of the Western Balkans there have been cases where the integrity of operations against organized crime groups has been compromised. Their members have been informed, or confidential information has ended up in the media," she noted.
Andi Hoxhaj në mënyrë të ngjashme vëren se qeveritë e mëparshme të Mbretërisë së Bashkuar shpesh e kanë parë Ballkanin Perëndimor me mosbesim dhe qeveritë e tij “si të korruptuara”. Megjithatë, ndërsa presioni u rrit mbi qeverinë e ish-kryeministrit Rishi Sunak mbi kalimet me gomone, këto qëndrime kanë ndryshuar.
Vendet e Ballkanit Perëndimor tani kanë një histori të suksesshme pune me partnerë evropianë dhe ndërkombëtarë. Që nga viti i kaluar, Maqedonia e Veriut ka pritur një mision të Frontex të BE-së, me roje dhe patrulla evropiane në kufirin e saj me Greqinë. Marrëveshje të ngjashme janë në fuqi midis Greqisë dhe Shqipërisë. Diskutimet janë në një fazë të avancuar për një mision të ngjashëm në Bosnje dhe Hercegovinë.
Bashkëpunimi i suksesshëm me agjencitë evropiane si Europol-i tregon se vendet e Ballkanit Perëndimor kanë “kapacitete të caktuara për të bashkëpunuar në mënyrë efektive”, vuri në dukje Lembovska Young.
Megjithatë, dinamikat politike rajonale ende mjegullojnë bashkëpunimin e qetë rajonal dhe ndërkombëtar. Mosnjohja e pavarësisë së Kosovës nga Serbia është një shembull i kësaj.
“Kosova shpesh nuk është pjesë e forumeve të bashkëpunimit të sigurisë në nivel rajonal dhe të BE-së, gjë që pengon kapacitetin e saj për të trajtuar në mënyrë efektive emigrimin e parregullt”, tha Dani Ilazi, nga Qendra Kosovare për Studime të Sigurisë.
“Shkëmbimi i informacionit dhe operacionet policore transnacionale janë vendimtare në luftimin e kësaj çështjeje, megjithatë Kosovës i mungon aksesi, ose shpesh është një arsye pse rajoni nuk mund të përmirësojë bashkëpunimin, për shkak të pozicionit të Serbisë për shtetësinë e Kosovës”, shtoi Ilazi.
Partneriteti me Shqipërinë vepron si precedent
Marrëveshja Shqipëri-Mbretëri e Bashkuar e nënshkruar në maj, për të cilën qeveria e Mbretërisë së Bashkuar thotë se shërben si bazë për tre marrëveshjet e reja me Maqedoninë e Veriut, Kosovën dhe Serbinë, kishte një qasje shumë më të gjerë.
Ajo përfshiu mbështetjen e Mbretërisë së Bashkuar për forcimin e kapaciteteve të Shqipërisë në polici dhe gjyqësor. Një shembull nga marrëveshjet e mëparshme midis dy vendeve përfshinte oficerët e forcave kufitare të Mbretërisë së Bashkuar që inkorporoheshin në aeroportin e Tiranës.
Hoxhaj pret që marrëveshjet e reja të vendosin baza për bashkëpunim, i cili do të zhvillohet më tej me projekte praktike dhe mbështetje.
Por ai tha se Mbretëria e Bashkuar mund të ketë marrë një qasje të veçantë me Shqipërinë, krahasuar me pjesën tjetër të rajonit, pasi ata e shohin atë si më vendimtare.
“Sipas pikëpamjes së Zyrës së Punëve të Brendshme, krimi i organizuar nga pjesët e tjera të Ballkanit Perëndimor (përveç Shqipërisë) nuk është aq aktiv në Mbretërinë e Bashkuar. Pra, këto vende shihen më shumë si vende tranzit, që luajnë një rol në elementin logjistik për sa i përket kalimeve”, tha ai.
"The UK authorities see Albanians as a factor in Great Britain, so that's why the deal with Albania was a bit more tailored, but there were also political reasons behind it."
"In 2022, the largest nationality arriving by boat was Albanian, and if we look at UK prison statistics, Albanians in the last five years usually rank among the top three nationalities," he added.
Teodora Kjoseva, of the Association of Young Macedonian Lawyers, a civil society organization that provides legal aid to asylum seekers, says that people on the move usually only stay in North Macedonia for a short period, which classifies the country only as a transit point. .
North Macedonia offers little in terms of integration opportunities, she says. But she also points out that those using the Western Balkans route rarely mention the UK as a destination, with Germany, Italy and Spain at the top.
Risk of empowering far-right narratives
Despite the reported decline in irregular crossings of people using the Balkan route to enter the EU and the UK, Britain's renewed focus on immigration has raised fears that it could fuel right-wing discourse in the long term.
When UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman in 2022 described Albanians arriving by raft as an "invasion", Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama accused her of xenophobia.
The new partnership is a positive step in the right direction, Ilazi said. However, he warns that a renewed focus on immigration may serve "to some extent to perpetuate the image of the Western Balkans as a problem area and help demonize immigration, which in turn helps reinforce narratives of the extreme right"./ BIRN
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