Serbian PM warns EU may reimpose visas on Western Balkans 

 

December 27, 2013

The European Union may suspend visa free regime in January next year due the increasing number of asylum seekers coming from Western Balkan countries.

World Bulletin / News Desk 25 Dec. 2013

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic on Sunday warned that the European Union might reimpose visas for people coming from Western Balkan countries including Serbia.
“There is a real danger of suspension of the visa free regime which would be catastrophic for us, after all efforts we have made in the past,” said Dacic.
A big majority of asylum seekers headed for Europe come from the Western Balkans. According to the EuroStat, EU’s statistics authority, 37,350 asylum demands filed to EU countries from the region in the first 10 months of 2013.
Serbia placed first among the five Western Balkan countries with 16,070 asylum demands as Macedonia was second with 8,425 requests, Albania third with 7,125, Bosnia and Herzegovina fourth with 5,045 and Montenegro placed fifth with 685 asylum demands.
EU’s commissioner for home affairs, Cecilia Malmstrom, has urged the Western Balkan nations to show solid progress in reducing the number of asylum seekers coming from their countries until spring next year, otherwise face risk of losing the free visa regime.
“Number of applications for asylum in the EU countries has quadrupled. The most of them come from the Western Balkan region, which is a big problem. It means that, if necessary, we may suspend visa free regime to some of the countries,” said Malmstrom.
“There is a real danger of suspension, because number of asylum seekers is concerning,” Tanja Fajon, European lawmaker and former rapporteur to the EP for visa liberalization, told Anadolu Agency.
The EU lifted visa requirements for Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia in December 2009 and for Albania and Bosnia in December 2010.