The fifth post visa liberalisation report on the Western Balkans shows that more measures are necessary to maintain the integrity of the visa-free scheme and to address potential abuses of the EU asylum system. In early March, Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos, will be visiting Belgrade and Pristina. Serbian citizens remained the largest group of Western Balkans visa-free asylum-seekers in the EU.
Today the Commission publishes its fifth assessment of the functioning of the visa-free scheme with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.
“The European Commission remains committed to maintaining visa-free travel for citizens of the Western Balkans countries. The benefits of visa liberalisation have been very visible in terms of enhancing people-to-people contacts and business opportunities,” Avramopoulos said.
“However, the misuse of the visa-free travel scheme for seeking asylum in the EU must be addressed systematically and through proper allocation of resources. Our report formulates a set of recommendations to tackle the push and pull factors of irregular migration so I, therefore, strongly call for the full support and engagement of all participating countries”, he said.
Asylum abuse by citizens of the visa-free countries in the Western Balkans remains a considerable concern. The number of asylum applications submitted in the EU and Schengen-associated countries by nationals of the five visa-free Western Balkan countries has been steadily rising since visa liberalisation was achieved, peaking in 2013 at 53 705 applications. Figures for the first nine months of 2014 are 40 % higher than for the same period of 2013.
Serbian citizens remained the largest group of Western Balkan visa-free asylum-seekers in the EU and Schengen-associated countries (42 % in 2013), followed by citizens of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania (21 % each), citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina (14 %) and citizens of Montenegro (2 %).
At the same time, the asylum recognition rate across the EU and Schengen-associated countries continued to fall for all Western Balkan visa-free citizens, indicating that the overwhelming majority of applications remained manifestly unfounded. The recognition rate was 3.7 % for Montenegrin citizens, 2.7 % for Serbian citizens, and 1 % for nationals of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Meanwhile, 8.1 % of Albanian applicants and 5.9 % of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina received international protection in the EU and Schengen-associated countries in 2013.
Germany remains the largest recipient of Western Balkan visa-free asylum applications, with an increased share of the Western Balkan intake (from 12 % in 2009 to 75 % in the first nine months of 2014).
Read the full statement here: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-4482_en.htm
