500 Albanian asylum seekers in Germany to return

Nearly 500 Albanians who have departed to seek asylum in Germany will return to homeland by the end of the month, local media reported on Tuesday.

Following that 70 asylum seekers were brought back aboard a plane last week, 100 more are expected to arrive in Tirana on Wednesday, the Ora News reported.

The repatriation will continue next week with two other planes to bring back from Germany more Albanian asylum seekers.

Elona Gjebrea, Albanian deputy minister of interior, called for voluntary return of asylum seekers in order to avoid penalizations that will deny them the right to travel to European Union countries for five years.

"There is no illusion to receive asylum. There is no way to seek it. If there is voluntary return there will be no penalization," declared Gjebrea in an interview with Ora News.

German ambassador to Albania Hellmut Hoffmann has often appealed to Albanians not to leave their houses and seek asylum in Germany because they would not receive it as Albania is considered a safe country. He has previously declared that there is no "economic asylum".

"Therefore, Albanians' applications for asylum practically have no hope to be recognized as such in Germany or any other country of the European Union," underlined the German ambassador during a visit to the Kakavija border crossing point.

Hoffmann then underlined that German aims to accelerate procedures and repatriate these citizens to homeland within four weeks. Endit