Elbasan police have completed two consecutive operations against the illegal transport of migrants toward Europe.

Three people were arrested on the Librazhd-Elbasan road after attempting to illegally transport 24 migrants.

According to the police statement, one of them was driving the vehicle used to transport the migrants without a driver’s license. Those arrested are Aleksandër Rira, 23, Denis Çollaku, 24, and Florjan Mustafa, 22.

POLICE STATEMENT:

“Elbasan Local Police Directorate/The Trafficking Investigation Section has completed two consecutive operations against assisting migrants in illegally crossing borders toward the EU.

Three people who, in two separate cases, were transporting 24 migrants who had entered Albania illegally were caught on the Librazhd-Elbasan road and arrested.

One of them was driving the vehicle used to transport the migrants without a driver’s license. Two vehicles were seized.

Following the swift processing of operational intelligence concerning individuals involved in the criminal activity of transporting, in exchange for payment, migrants from Third Countries who intend to travel illegally to EU countries, specialists from the Trafficking Investigation Section, in cooperation with officers from the Special Operational Force and the Shqiponja Special Force, completed two consecutive operations in this area.

Specifically, the two interventions carried out on the Librazhd-Elbasan road led to the completion of the following code-named operations:

‘Aksi,’ during which F. M., 22, a resident of Elbasan, was caught in the act and arrested while transporting 14 migrants;

‘Aksi 01,’ during which A. R., 23, and D. Ç., 24, both residents of Përrenjas, were caught in the act and arrested while transporting 10 migrants. Further checks found that A. R. was driving the vehicle used to transport the migrants without a driver’s license.

The procedural materials were referred to the Prosecutor’s Office at the Elbasan Court of First Instance of General Jurisdiction for further action.”

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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called for “joint action” to strengthen border security following the chaotic entry of tens of thousands of migrants from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta last week.

According to Spanish authorities, around 69,500 migrants have already been returned to Morocco, a figure higher than the initial estimate of 50,000 people.

Meanwhile, the official death toll stands at 72 on the Spanish side of the border and 11 on the Moroccan side.

To discuss the situation, the interior ministers of European Union countries will hold an emergency videoconference meeting on Tuesday.

The events in Ceuta have also caused tensions among some of the EU’s 27 member states.

In a letter to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, von der Leyen praised the Spanish government’s swift response to the crisis.

“This incident clearly shows that we need to do more to strengthen our borders at the most critical points,” she stressed.

In response to the influx of migrants in Ceuta, Italy temporarily suspended the implementation of Schengen Area rules in relation to Spain.

The Schengen Agreement eliminates border controls between participating countries and currently covers more than 450 million residents in 29 European states.

The post EU Calls for Stronger Borders After Migrant Crisis in Ceuta, Ursula von der Leyen: We Must Do More appeared first on Albeu.com.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is expected to propose expanding Albania’s model for repatriation centers, presenting it as part of the EU’s new policy to strengthen immigration controls.

“Giorgia Meloni is considering proposals ranging from the creation of new Albanian-style repatriation centers to even stricter economic agreements with African countries,” Corriere della Sera wrote today, ahead of the emergency summit in Ceuta convened by the EU for Tuesday.

Yesterday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen received the letter from 22 countries, as well as Sánchez’s letter, and accepted their request for an extraordinary video conference to review the crisis.

Twenty-two countries have embraced Italy’s tougher stance. Only France, along with Spain, did not sign the letter. But Giorgia Meloni now aims to impose a closed-border policy in Europe, even at the cost of suspending Schengen, as well as the Albanian model, involving repatriation centers outside the EU, which is already under consideration by the bloc.

This is one of the demands Italy will present on Tuesday at the meeting of EU interior ministers, convened following the wave of mass migration into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, on the border with Morocco, a situation that has since largely calmed down.

Meloni believes she has the support of Danish Prime Minister and Socialist Mette Frederiksen and hopes German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will also join the initiative. Palazzo Chigi and the European Conservatives group are applying strong pressure, as European Commissioner for Migration Magnus Brunner’s cautious stance toward the project has not been well received, even though it is included in the new Migration Pact, which entered into force on June 12.

Rome hopes that developments in Ceuta will accelerate the process and restart negotiations with 12 countries, which were revealed by AFP several months ago.

Preliminary discussions have been held with Rwanda, Ghana, Senegal, Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania, Egypt, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Montenegro and Ethiopia.

Whether the proposal will move forward is expected to become clear as early as tomorrow, during the meeting of EU ambassadors. Media reports say Palazzo Chigi is convinced that a majority supports these ideas.

As evidence, they point to the letter promoted by Meloni and signed yesterday by 22 EU heads of state and government. France is absent from the list of signatories, but Italian government sources do not consider this a problem.

“Most governments share the Italian approach,” they say, adding that French President Emmanuel Macron has never wanted to join the “group of friends” on migration issues, which meets ahead of European summits.

According to Rome’s interpretation, it is France that is isolated in this case.

German Chancellor Merz had also taken a more cautious stance at the height of the crisis in Ceuta, but he signed the letter, which contains more moderate wording following diplomatic negotiations. Sources close to Meloni say there has been no direct contact between the two leaders.

According to the Italian prime minister, the images from Ceuta showed how urgently a European response is needed. She says the letter from the 22 countries is a sign that the Italian position is gaining support from an increasing number of states.

Only one passage in the letter is less critical of Spain, which is not mentioned by name: “Protecting the European Union’s external borders is not the interest of a single country, but a shared responsibility of Europe.”

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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has sent a letter to the European institutions expressing his concern over the response of several European Union governments to the migrant crisis in Ceuta.

In the letter, obtained by the Italian news agency ANSA, Sánchez calls for an urgent meeting of the interior ministers of the EU’s 27 member states, with the aim of “establishing a joint response” to the situation.

The head of the Spanish government stressed that “the security of our external borders is a shared responsibility of all member states, not only those on the European Union’s front line.”

Sánchez has called for greater EU involvement in managing the migration crisis, underscoring the need for a coordinated approach among member states.

At least 60,000 migrants are believed to have crossed into Ceuta from Moroccan territory over the past 24 hours. The figure was announced by the president of the Spanish enclave, Juan Jesús Vivas, who described the situation as an unprecedented crisis.

Of the approximately 60,000 people who entered Ceuta, at least 7,000 are minors and are therefore under the care of the authorities of the autonomous Spanish city. The death toll from attempts to cross the border by sea has exceeded 60.

According to the authorities, more than 48,000 migrants have already been returned to Morocco. “It is as if 34 million people entered Spain within 24 hours,” Vivas said, comparing the scale of the crisis with the country’s population.

Returns to Morocco

According to reports from the Madrid government, more than 37,500 migrants have been returned to Moroccan territory. Many are leaving by sea or land, saying that Ceuta is overcrowded, that they cannot find places to sleep, and that shops and bars mainly serve only local residents.

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