Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama refused to allow camps for migrants rescued at sea to be built in the country as proposed by the European Union.

“We will never accept those camps for European refugees,” he told German magazine Bildt adding that this would mean “unloading desperate people who no one wants, anywhere like toxic waste”.

The European Union has announced plans to set up centres for migrants rescued at sea on the territory of member states and other countries to avoid diplomatic arguments. The idea has been included in the draft conclusions of an EU summit at the end of June in Brussels. EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos said Albania and Tunisia have been mentioned as possible sites for the centres.

“The refugee crisis should be resolved independently of our efforts to join the EU,” Rama is quoted as saying a day after the EU decided to open pre-accession negotiations with Albania in mid-2019.