Brussels, 09/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - Last week, in a letter addressed to the Commission, the Belgian secretary of state for immigration, Melchior Wathelet, expressed concerns about the number of asylum demands submitted in his country by nationals from the former Yugoslavia, particularly Serbians and Macedonians. On Friday 6 May Marcin Grabiec, a spokesperson for Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, explained that since December 2009 these nationals have benefited from visa waivers (for up to 90 days). Belgium is complaining about the increase in the number of these demands being made. Last March, more than 200 requests were made by Serbian nationals, a proportion that is around three times higher than before the liberalisation mechanism was introduced. Belgium considers that these nationals are “taking advantage” of the system, even though it has only accepted barely 1% of all the requests made.
In response to the fears expressed by Wathelet, the Commission declared on Friday that since January this year, a visa liberalisation follow-up mechanism has existed for Western Balkan countries benefiting from this regime (Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro) and that as part of this framework, experts from the Frontex agency and member states regularly travelled to these countries and subsequently produced the appropriate reports. A more comprehensive evaluation on this follow-up has also been programmed for June, added Marcin Grabiec.
The Commission also underlined that it in its communication on EU migration on 4 May it had suggested a future “safeguard clause” in order to help suspend visa liberalisation for countries that were proving to be responsible for large-scale illegal immigration into the EU. This safeguard clause was also enthusiastically encouraged by France and the Netherlands. The idea? “In cases where these exemptions lead to large-scale illegal immigration or abuses being committed, security would be in danger and the Union should have the appropriate resources for rapidly rectifying these problems”, explained the Commission. To this end, the latter will soon be proposing “an amendment to the visa regulation, together with a safeguard clause, which will allow, under certain conditions, the temporary reintroduction of visa requirements for citizens from a specific third country”. (S.P./transl.fl)