EU interior ministers discussed, on Friday 14 October in Luxembourg, the increase in irregular arrivals to the EU from the Western Balkans route, up to three times higher than in 2021, which they attribute in part to Serbia’s visa liberalisation policy with a range of third countries, while the EU requires visas for nationals of these same third countries.
While there was no mention of retaliatory measures such as the suspension of Serbia’s visa-free regime, it was agreed that the EU should continue to put pressure on the Western Balkan countries to “harmonise their visa policies”, the Czech Minister of the Interior, Vít Rakušan, summed up after the meeting.
The minister also welcomed the Commission’s recent efforts to communicate directly with the authorities of these countries, diplomatic efforts that will continue in the coming weeks in Berlin, Prague or in Tirana during the EU-Western Balkans Ministerial Forum.
The Commission has received “promises in Serbia” that the visa policy will be aligned with that of the EU, especially with regard to “Tunisia, India or Burundi”, said the Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, as more and more nationals from these countries arrive in the EU from this Balkan route.
Nor “can we rule out” any avenue, Ms Johansson added, referring to a possible suspension of the EU’s visa liberalisation regime for Serbia or other countries with problematic visa policies if things did not improve.
For the Commissioner, the various upcoming meetings will be an opportunity to test the promises made.
Austria, Hungary, but also Belgium have in recent weeks expressed their difficulties with the increased arrival of asylum seekers of unusual nationalities from this Western Balkan route. Belgium has observed much higher asylum applications from Burundian citizens who arrived via this route and then irregularly crossed the borders of Member States.
Austria, one of the countries most concerned about the phenomenon, recorded almost 57,000 asylum applications between the beginning of January and the end of August, an increase of 195% compared to the previous year. And the numbers will continue to rise, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said earlier this week.
According to Frontex, 106,000 irregular arrivals via the Western Balkans route have been observed since January 2022, which is “100% more” than in 2021 over the same period. By August, 16,000 people had been registered, an even higher level than in 2016.
The Member States most affected by these irregular arrivals and large increases in asylum applications have, in any case, established a link between the nationalities observed on this Balkan route - mainly Indians, Cubans, Tunisians, Burundians and Turks - and the visa policy of some Balkan countries.
And Serbia was particularly in the ministers’ sights, as was, to some extent, Albania.
Serbia is in fact the least aligned with EU visa policy, according to a note from the Czech Presidency of the EU Council dated 11 October, meaning the gap between the number of ‘visa-free’ third countries to Serbia and the EU is 24. Albania has 19 additional visa-free agreements with third countries.
While the Serbian President, Aleksandar Vučić, last week gave guarantees to the Commission, during a visit to the country, that Belgrade would revoke its visa liberalisation agreements with India, Tunisia and Burundi by the end of the year, the ministers hoped on Friday that these commitments would actually be translated into action.
Should this not be the case, the option of suspending Serbia’s visa-free regime with the EU will become very real.
But Turkey was also the subject of much concern on Friday, a source said. “It is known that Turkey is trying to get the millions of refugees it hosts to leave”, the source said. The Commission also reportedly made it clear in this discussion that Turkey “encourages irregular migration to the EU” and thus puts great pressure on the EU.
Not a new phenomenon
Does Russia play a role in these increases in irregular arrivals in the EU, through Serbia, to which it is close? For Ylva Johansson, the answer is “no”, she said on her arrival in Luxembourg, as this has happened before.
The link between the non-alignment of visa policy and the flow of irregular migrants from the region, especially from Serbia, is in essence not new, the Czech note says.
“In 2017-2018, there was a sudden and sharp increase in arrivals of Iranian migrants in Serbia, which was reflected in an increase in secondary movements to EU Member States. It was only because of strong pressure by the EU that a visa obligation for Iran was introduced and the situation was eventually defused”.
In terms of concrete figures, the Presidency document indicates that: - 6,186 Turks were in Serbia and Albania in 2022 compared to 1,652 in the previous year; - 5,777 Tunisians (in Serbia only) versus 842 in 2021; - 4,469 Indians against 557 in 2021; - for Cuba, in Serbia alone, 339 people arrived compared to 36 the previous year; - 259 Burundians also arrived in Serbia compared to 0 in 2021.
Link to the document: https://aeur.eu/f/3lz (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)