The UK is reportedly set to ask Kosovo to take failed asylum seekers as part of plans to open overseas “return hubs” for migrants.
Kosovo has been put on a list of nine countries that are seen as potential locations for the hubs, The Times has reported.
The “return hubs” would house asylum seekers after they have exhausted all their rights to appeal for sanctuary in the UK. They would then be deported back to their home country from these hubs.
Kosovo’s president, Vjosa Osmani, has already said that the country would be open to discussing housing the UK’s failed asylum seekers.
She said last week: “There’s been no formal talks with the UK on this issue. It hasn’t been raised so far. We would be open to discussing it, however, I can’t say more than that because I don’t know the details.
“I cannot give an answer on a request that hasn’t been made so far.”
The prime minister of North Macedonia, Hristijan Mickoski, also said last week that his country had not yet been formally approached by the UK for the scheme.
According to The Times, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina are on the shortlist of countries that the UK is eyeing up. There are also reportedly some countries outside of Europe on the list.
The paper reported that the UK wants talks on the scheme to have begun before a meeting of Western Balkan leaders in London in autumn.
Almost 22,000 people were recorded using the Western Balkans to travel irregularly into Europe last year, according to the Foreign Office.
Foreign secretary David Lammy travelled to Kosovo and Serbia in early April. He said parts of the Western Balkans “have become a major transit route for irregular migration and serious organised crime”.
Sir Keir Starmer raised the idea of “returns hubs” during the European Political Community Summit in Tirana, Albania. He told reporters that such hubs were not “a silver bullet in and of themselves”, but would be “a very important additional tool in our armoury”.
He said he had had “discussions about return hubs” with leaders at the summit. However, Albanian prime minister Edi Rama ruled out being a host to the UK scheme, saying an equivalent measure introduced for the Italian government was a one-off.
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