France has repatriated 219 Albanians who overstayed or sought asylum in the Schengen area, in two flights on Wednesday and Friday.
The Albanian police stated that repatriations were voluntary after their asylum requests were denied.
On Wednesday, 110 people were repatriated from Metz, France, after they had overstayed the allowed 3-month-period.
109 asylum seekers arrived in Tirana, Albania on board a charter on Friday from Lyon, France.
The Ministry of Interior stressed that Albanians have zero chance to be granted asylum in any of the EU member countries because Albania is considered a safe country.
This week, Germany also repatriated 19 Albanians.
Reduction of unfounded asylum applications and ensuring repatriations is one of the 15 conditions for Albania before it starts EU accession talks.
Albania is among one of the ten countries with the highest number of asylum seekers in 2019, ranking along with Iraq, Pakistan, Iran and Nigeria.
