Monday, November 22, 2010


Around 8,000 Serbs seek asylum in EU in 2010, minister reveals

Nov 22, 2010

Belgrade - More than 8,000 Serbs have this year claimed asylum in European Union countries, Belgrade's Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said Sunday, according to local media.

Many were bogus asylum seekers, Dacic said, hoping to leave the Balkan country for economic reasons.

Sweden alone had received 6,000 applications, whilst roughly 2,000 had applied to Germany.

Many of the applications for asylum came from the Roma community in the north of Serbia, whilst there were also some from ethnic Albanians in the south.

Serbia is not an EU member state, but earlier this year joined the Schengen zone of visa-free travel.

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