The number of asylum seekers hoping to find refuge in Western European countries from Western Balkan states such as Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia, has been growing since the European Union last December granted citizens from those countries the right to travel freely without visas. Officials are now considering removing their visa-free travel privileges.
Belgium, Germany, and Sweden in particular noted increases in fortune hunters. In Sweden the number of Serbian asylum seekers grew 1,000 percent in one year, euractiv reports.
Interior minister for Germany’s state of Bavaria Joachim Hermann said, “The EU could consider reversing visa liberalization schemes,” read the report.
Buses filled with ethnic Albanian and Roma were sent back to Macedonia and Serbia from Belgium and Sweden last March. Serbia’s Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said the greatest number of asylum seekers were Roma and Albanians, according to the report.
Dacic said they need to be informed before they leave their country that they will not be granted asylum as their motivation is economic.
Belgium, Germany, and Sweden in particular noted increases in fortune hunters. In Sweden the number of Serbian asylum seekers grew 1,000 percent in one year, euractiv reports.
Interior minister for Germany’s state of Bavaria Joachim Hermann said, “The EU could consider reversing visa liberalization schemes,” read the report.
Buses filled with ethnic Albanian and Roma were sent back to Macedonia and Serbia from Belgium and Sweden last March. Serbia’s Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said the greatest number of asylum seekers were Roma and Albanians, according to the report.
Dacic said they need to be informed before they leave their country that they will not be granted asylum as their motivation is economic.
