British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to arrive in Tirana on May 15. His stay will last 48 hours, and he is expected to advance a hitherto secret agenda of his government, which is related to the establishment of another center for immigrant asylum seekers in Albania — similar to the one for Italians in Gjadra.
A qualified source with connections to the Home Office in London exclusively informed Hashtag.al about this development:
"On May 16, several EU leaders will arrive in Tirana for the summit to be held in the capital. But Mr. Starmer's visit will take place 24 hours earlier, on May 15. The Prime Minister of your country will try to present this visit as historic, although Mr. Starmer has a single goal: to build another center for asylum seekers, with the aim of relocating immigrants (mainly from the Middle East) from Britain to Albania," said the qualified source.
It is learned that the Albanian and British states have exchanged information, over the past few months, through informal (invisible) state channels, regarding the possibilities and variants of implementing this project.
Currently, Albania has built such a camp for the transfer of immigrants from Italy, in the Gjadri area.
But this project only came to life after a previous incident with the British government.

"If you remember, former British Minister Priti Patel visited Albania in July 2021. At that time, Albania was very close to reaching an agreement and the Albanian government asked the British side not to disclose this secret project and to remain confidential until the last moment. There were also working groups that dealt with the details. But someone from the previous British government leaked this information to the media and the Albanian government withdrew," the same source said.
It is also learned that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer held a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in September 2024, where - among other things - he specifically asked his Italian counterpart about the techniques and ways she suggested to convince Edi Rama on this project.
Asked by Hashtag.al what the Albanian prime minister would gain in return if he made this concession to the British – given that Britain is not even part of the EU – the source said:
“There are two types of benefits: privileges, at best, or simply time, when you have problems. I fear that it is the second option. The Albanian Prime Minister is probably trying to buy time, and the coercive tool may be British pressure through the SPAK Special Prosecution, which has ready-made and extremely serious files on Rama's main generals and on himself ,” said the source, who added: “ Don't be surprised if, at a later point and for the same reason – to buy time from the problem – your Prime Minister also plans to build camps for Palestinians.” / Hashtag.al