"That guy who comes by boat is like Dua Lipa", why doesn't Rama's comparison about immigrants in London hold up

Prime Minister Edi Rama's visit to London a day ago at 10 Doëning Street took place against the background of the controversy that has been going on for months in Great Britain over the issue of immigrants crossing the English Channel to enter Britain illegally. 

During the meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, he said that those who cross the English Channel by raft are the same as the famous singer Dua Lipa who went to Britain as an immigrant and now works and sings.

"Just like the guy who comes on a boat is not just an Albanian, but part of a bigger picture, so Dua Lipa is not just a British singer, but an Albanian immigrant who came here like many others who have come to build, take care of, cook and sing for you and we want to make sure that this community feels not only safe, but also honored here" , said Rama.

AmENdmENT

In fact, wanting to create a parallelism, Rama forgets that the departure of the world-famous Albanian singer Dua Lipa compared to the Albanians of recent years are two completely different realities.

We recall that Dua herself has stated that her family and people were forcibly expelled from Kosovo by the Serbian regime. "Serbs expelled us from Kosovo. We were victims of terrible terror", she said in one of her interviews.

Dua was born in London in 1995. When she was 11 years old, her family decided to return to Kosovo, but five years later she packed her bags and returned to London again.

On the other hand, Albanians, mainly young people, put their lives at risk and leave everything in Albania for a better life, to secure the income that they cannot have in Albania.

The departure of many Albanians from the country due to economic impossibility and spaces to ensure a better life is also a topic of debate in Albania. The government has found itself under repeated accusations that it is responsible for the created situation, especially for the escape of young people.

FigureS

According to the national family immigration survey, for the years 2011-2019, conducted by INSTAT and several international organizations, about 50% of the nearly 177,000 emigrants are young people aged 15-29. According to researchers in the field, the main reasons are related to poverty, lack of employment and career development.

Also, the British media have constantly devoted reports to the Albanians who flee en masse to Great Britain.

Among the reasons they mentioned for this exodus, phenomena such as corruption, low wages, bad working conditions and low quality of life are listed.

Prime Minister Rama, for his part, defended himself by arguing that this is a general trend that has affected many countries.