Latest news with #VjosaOsmani
The Sun
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Sun
Kosovo is ‘open' to becoming return hub for failed UK asylum seekers as President welcomes talks
KOSOVO is 'open' to becoming a return hub for failed UK asylum seekers. President Vjosa Osmani said her country would welcome discussions. 2 The western Balkan nation is being considered under plans to deport those who have failed in their efforts to stay in the UK. Other options in the region — a principal route for illegal migrants — are said to include Serbia, North Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. No formal talks have yet taken place. It follows Albania's rejection of the return hub scheme. PM Sir Keir Starmer, who has vowed action on immigration, was snubbed by PM Edi Rama. Sir Keir claims it is not the same as the Tories' plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda in East Africa, a scheme Labour ditched on taking office. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said Albania's dismissal of return hubs was 'humiliating' for the PM. He said the idea would not act as a deterrent as only illegal immigrants whose asylum claims fail get removed. He said: 'The asylum claims of a vast majority who illegally cross the Channel are accepted.' A record 13,573 small boat migrants have reached the UK so far this year. EXCLUSIVE: Starmer's direct threat to smuggling gangs and how he'll stop the small boats 2
The National
7 days ago
- Politics
- The National
UK Government to ask Kosovo to take migrants in Rwanda-style plan
Earlier this month, Keir Starmer announced that the Government is beginning talks on a "return hubs" plan to send asylum seekers who have their claims rejected to third countries. The Prime Minister made the announcement in Albania, which has ruled itself out of any potential deal. However, The Times reports that Kosovo in the western Balkans, is one of nine countries which has been shortlisted by ministers as potential destinations for return hubs. READ MORE: SNP file formal complaint over 'race-baiting' Reform UK ad Kosovo's president, Vjosa Osmani, has also signalled that her country would be "open" to talks over the deal. Other nations to have been shortlisted include Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and several countries outside Europe. If established, the return hubs will target asylum seekers who have exhausted their avenues for appeal, differing slightly from the former Tory government's Rwanda scheme which proposed asylum seekers have their claims processed in Rwanda before a decision is reached. As well as acting as a deterrent for small boats crossings, the UK Government said it hopes the move will reduce asylum seekers' ability to find other reasons to prevent deportation, such as starting a family. While no formal talks have begun with any countries, ministers are understood to want to have made progress by the time the UK hosts a meeting of western Balkans leaders in London in the autumn, where illegal immigration is set to be discussed. Senior government sources told The Times that Kosovo was a "plausible" country for setting up a return hub because it is one of the main routes used by illegal immigrants on their way towards the European Union. According to the Foreign Office, nearly 22,000 illegal migrants used the western Balkans route to enter the EU last year, The Times reports. Kosovo, one of the poorest nations in Europe, has a population of about 1.6 million and is bordered by Serbia to the north and east, North Macedonia to the south east, Albania to the southwest and Montenegro to the west. READ MORE: Anas Sarwar must not 'stay silent' on two-child benefit cap and demand action from PM Last week, the Kosovian president said that her country would be open to taking part in the Rwanda-style plan. 'There's been no formal talks with the UK on this issue. It hasn't been raised so far,' Osmani said. '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.' Several other European countries are exploring similar schemes, including Italy – whose deal with Albania has been caught up in legal action – Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Britain to ask Kosovo to take UK's small boat migrants as it lines up talks over 'return hubs' in the Balkans after ditching Rwanda plan
Britain wants Kosovo to take migrants who arrive in Britain in small boats under a return hub' deal. The tiny country of 1.6million people, which only declared independence from Serbia 17 years ago, heads a shortlist of nine countries that ministers want to take failed asylum seekers. Sir Keir Starmer is currently looking for allies who might take those who cross the Channel as he seeks a way to reduce the numbers making the perilous journey. He is under mounting pressure after the total number of arrivals by small boats in 2025 hit 13,573, 37 per cent higher than at the same point last year. One of the PM's first acts after taking power was to ditch the Tories' Rwanda migrant deportation scheme. Serbia, North Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina are also on the list, the Times reported, with ministers wanting to make progress by the time the UK hosts a Balkan conference in the autumn. But Kosovo is at the top after its president, Vjosa Osmani, said earlier this month she was 'open' to talks on the subject, although she had not yet been approached by UK ministers. More than 3,000 migrants entered the EU through the Western Balkans in the four months of 2025, according to border agency Frontex. Official figures showed net long-term inflows into the UK were 431,000 in the year to December, compared with 860,000 across 2023. Numbers had dropped to 739,000 in the year to last June - just before the election - with the peak remaining 906,000 in the 12 months to June 2023. The Tories said the ONS data demonstrated their curbs were already having an impact - although the level in 2024 was still roughly equivalent to the population of Leeds. Separate figures from the Home Office showed 32,245 asylum seekers were housed in hotels as of the end of March this year - despite Keir Starmer 's vow to shut them down. The PM unveiled a crackdown on legal immigration last week, warning that failure to control the system risked turning Britain into an 'island of strangers'. Downing Street was forced to deny angry comparisons from MPs that it was an echo of Enoch Powell's 'Rivers of Blood' speech. Director of population statistics at the ONS Mary Gregory said: 'Our provisional estimates show net migration has almost halved compared with the previous year, driven by falling numbers of people coming to work and study, particularly student dependants. 'This follows policy changes brought in restricting visa applications. 'There has also been an increase in emigration over the 12 months to December 2024, especially people leaving who originally came on study visas once pandemic travel restrictions to the UK were eased.'
The Independent
7 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
UK ‘to ask Kosovo' to take failed asylum seekers in overseas ‘return hubs plan'
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 'returns 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 discuss 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 to have begun talks on the scheme 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.
Reuters
21-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Kosovo's political stalemate could put EU funds at risk, trade body warns
GDANSK, Poland, May 21 (Reuters) - Kosovo's parliament failed to elect a new speaker for the 15th straight time on Wednesday, prompting fears of an economic backlash after months of political stalemate in one of Europe's poorest countries. Lawmakers have been meeting every 48 hours since mid-April to elect a new speaker, a step required before Prime Minister Albin Kurti, a leftist nationalist who failed to win a majority in a February election, can try to form a coalition government. But that is proving difficult without cross-party support: Albulena Haxhiu, Kurti's candidate for speaker, has repeatedly fallen shy of the 61 votes needed. On Wednesday she received 54 votes. The parliament is set to reconvene in two days. No law limits the stalemate, although some analysts have said that President Vjosa Osmani could call snap elections if it continues. However, if parliament keeps failing to elect a speaker, experts say Kosovo, a small Balkan country of 1.6 million people that gained independence from Serbia in 2008, risks delaying or losing sorely needed funding from the European Union and the World Bank that is earmarked for health, education and green energy. "There are projects and loans worth 700-800 million waiting to be voted in the parliament that are hanging because of the crisis," Lulzim Rafuna, president of Kosovo's Chamber of Commerce, told Reuters. "Businesses are in limbo without knowing what reforms, fiscal politics and what taxes they will have from the new government." Following a request for comment, Kosovo's outgoing deputy prime minister Besnik Bislimi said in a statement that no EU funds would be lost, and that a speaker should be approved so that parliament could vote through the funding. The crisis comes after an acrimonious election in which the opposition argued over major issues including Kosovo's tense relations with Serbia - an issue that led the EU to cut funding to Kosovo in 2023. In a Tuesday interview with public broadcaster RTK, Kurti offered no sign that he would change his candidate despite opposition demands to do so. "They (the opposition) don't believe that I have 61 votes to become prime minister and I am telling them test me," Kurti said. He did not say how he expected to win enough votes to form a government when he cannot get enough votes for his candidate for speaker.
