One of the repatriated asylum seekers speaking to the media at Tirana International Airport on 29 July 2015. Photo: LSA / MALTON DIBRA

The two countries have stepped up joint efforts this week to stop Albanian migrants heading for Germany after more than 20,000 arrived over the past few months.

On Wednesday, about 70 asylum-seekers from Albania landed at Tirana International Airport after being deported from Germany.

Local media said that they were transported on a special free flight from the city of Essen and had agreed to return home voluntarily.

German Federal Interior Ministry said recently that in the first six months of 2015, about 22,000 Albanians had applied for protection under German law, a mechanism created to help those who are politically prosecuted in other countries or came from countries in a state of war.

Those who have applied for asylum in Germany get shelter and some financial help for several months while the authorities decide for their application. About 98 per cent of those who applied during 2014 were refused, data from the European Statistical Agency shows.

Meanwhile, Albania’s Interior Ministry announced that 12 officers from the German federal police have been stationed in Albania to work along Albanian border police officers in a bid to convince migrannts not to go.

In Germany, political tension has risen due to the large number of asylum seekers and the anti-migrant movement called Pegida, the BBC reported.

The German authorities are discussing whether to classify Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro as “safe countries”, which would speed up procedures for rejecting asylum-seekers’ applications. There have also been calls to reintroduce visa regimes for countries which are the source of increasing numbers of asylum seekers.

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