The Netherlands deports 50 Albanians on special charter flights

Ditmir Bushati and Halbe Zijstra
Albanian & Dutch Foreign Ministers Ditmir Bushati and Halbe Zijstra

The Netherlands has recently deported 50 Albanian nationals via a specially chartered flight to Tirana, news agency ANP said on Friday.

Of them, four were living illegally in Belgium and the rest were in the Netherlands. Most were being held in deportation centres. Hundreds of Albanian nationals have claimed asylum in the Netherlands but their cases have no chance of success because Albania is considered a safe country.

The Netherlands and Albania agreed in 2016 to work together on mass deportations and there were previous flights in 2016 and 2017.

In early 2016, Albanians accounted for the largest group of new arrivals claiming refugee status in the Netherlands. And in September that year, the justice ministry scrapped the €200 leaving payout which the government had paid to all failed asylum seekers who left the country voluntarily.

Source: DutchNews.nl