European Union's Frontex renews joint border control agreement with Albania

In a bid to strengthen cooperation, fight cross-border crime, and return migrants who enter the country illegally, the European Union’s border agency, Frontex, has renewed its agreement with the non-European Union member Albania. According to AP, the renewed deal, which was signed online on March 17, comes two years after Albania became the first country that’s not a member of the 27-nation bloc where 71 officers from 20 EU countries were deployed. Their mission is to support local authorities with border control and combatting cross-border crime, including human trafficking and terrorism. 

It is worth noting that similar agreements have been signed with fellow west-Balkan countries North Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro. Albania is also hoping to join the European Union one day and it also expects to start full membership talks later this year after it holds parliamentary elections next month. 

Albania praised for jointly managing borders 

According to reports, back in February, visiting European Union home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson highly praised Albania for its work in jointly managing its borders. Since May 2019, teams of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, or Frontex, have been working with Albania's police to patrol its land and sea borders for migrants and crime. Fifty officers, 16 patrol cars and one thermo-vision van from 12 European Union member countries have also been deployed along the Albania-Greece border with no time limit or fixed mandate to the cooperation.

Even though Albania is not a preferred route for migrants, some, however, enter the Western Balkan country to move toward Northern Europe. Meanwhile, last year the EU gave the green light to Albania and North Macedonia for the launch of full membership negotiations, but no date has been set yet for the first inter-governmental meeting. Albania will hold its parliamentary election on April 25.

(Image: @EUinAlbania/Twitter)