Brussels, 22/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 21 October, the Serb minister of the interior, Ivica Dacic, called on Serb citizens not to go to European Union countries to seek asylum as there is the risk of their being expelled to Serbia. “We must be quite firm that political asylum will not be granted, which means their journey will have been in vain and that they will be sent back”, Dacic told the press. In Belgrade on Thursday, he met the Bavarian minister of state, Emilia Müller, and the Belgian secretary of state for migration policy and asylum, Melchior Wathelet, to discuss the problem of the growing number of asylum seekers from Serbia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) to the Union. Sweden, Belgium and Germany are the main EU countries concerned. Norway is also affected by the phenomenon. Nearly 390 Serbs, 210 Macedonians and 736 Kosovars requested asylum in Belgium between July and August, while another 500 requests from the same region are expected during the course of this month, Belgian authorities say. Most asylum seekers are from the Rom community. Dacic pointed out that Belgrade would “take measures (…) and strengthen border control in response to this problem”. “There are 2,700,000 Serb citizens who already have their biometric passports (allowing them to travel in the Schengen countries). It would be tragic to put back lifting the visa requirement in question”, he added. Wathelet nonetheless underlined the fact that the possible cancellation of visa waiver for citizens of Serbia “is not on the agenda” in Brussels. “There is no discussion (within the EU) on this”, he added. The secretary of state wished to send a clear message to the Serbs, saying: “If you want to obtain asylum in the countries of the EU, you will never be recognised as refugees”. In Skopje, Wathelet sounded the same note of caution to the citizens of FYROM. On Wednesday, the European Commission called on Serbia and on FYROM to dissuade their nationals from seeking asylum in EU countries (see EUROPE 10241). (B.C./transl.jl)