
I traveled for two weeks by car to Macedonia, Serbia, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia.
I want to share with you an experience I had at the Serbian, Romanian and Swiss borders. In fact, I expected a thorough car check when I was leaving Serbia because other people who had passed through those customs had told me so. But I didn't expect the border policeman to take my Albanian passport, throw it away like trash and tell me; "Now stay there, don't get out of the car until we tell you." I waited for more than an hour, in vain, because the policeman was playing on his phone. The other cars with Macedonian and Montenegrin license plates passed without any problems. Two cars with Albanian license plates and I, the third, had been waiting for two or three hours each. After they were laughed at, they decided to check all the bags. All of them. They turned the car into a rag.
The same situation happened at the border with Romania. We didn't wait there. But the car was again heavily searched. A policeman, who seemed to be new to the profession, was quickly "buyed" off with a cigarette from me. He started telling me that they had received orders to strictly check every Albanian car. He didn't know the reason, but this situation had been happening for more than 6 months. There had even been cases when Albanians were sent back to Serbia.
After waiting at both customs for more than 5 hours, I had the next check in Switzerland. It was a different story there. They didn't throw away my passport, but they did the check up to the cell. My biggest frustration was that no other car was checked except mine. I ask the policeman and he says to me without any hesitation - "You're Albanian, what else do you expect to happen?"
Now, in Albania and our media, it is difficult to find such topics of discussion, related to Albania's foreign policies in defense of its citizens or even Albanian emigrants in other countries.
Our media discusses how Rama half-kneels over Meloni, because Ferit Hoxha, the foreign minister, sits in the wrong chair or his own mistakes. How is it possible that very few ambassadors have contact with the police and hold them accountable, issue a protest note or at least send a letter about the way Albanians are treated at customs?
I remember when I went to Israel 4 years ago, they threw away my passport as soon as they saw Albanian and held me at gunpoint for more than six hours. How is it possible that Rama goes and speaks in parliament while Albanians are forced to be treated with indignity every day in Israel or, in the best cases, sent to Cyprus for three days in a cell and then brought back to Albania by plane?
How is it possible that in 2026, when Albania seeks to join the EU, they are treated as worthless?
This is not just my personal experience, or some text written with ChatGpt. I am currently writing this post from Kapshtica customs where I have been waiting for two hours to cross into Greece. This situation is a daily occurrence at the border.
And yes, I am an Albanian worthless to Europe!