European Forum

Belgium sends back hundreds of asylum seekers from Serbia and Macedonia

On 10 March it was announced that the first group of about 400 asylum seekers from southern Serbia, and a similar number from Macedonia, will be sent back to their home countries from Belgium this week. The first bus, carrying 44 passengers, left Brussels this morning (10 March). Belgian Prime Minister, Yves Leterme, said that there have not been any new demands from Serbian and Macedonian citizens seeking asylum in Belgium.

Melchior Wathelet, Belgian Secretary of State for Migration and Asylum Affairs, told representatives of authorities in Preševo and Bujanovac yesterday (9 March) that no citizen from southern Serbia seeking asylum in Belgium could claim it for economic reasons. He emphasized that the visa-free regime did not mean that Serbian citizens could get jobs, homes or money in Belgium. Wathelet, along with Belgian Ambassador to Serbia, Denise de Hauwere, met with political leaders of ethnic Albanians in south Serbia.

Leterme made similar remarks regarding Macedonian nationals during his visit to the country earlier this week. "These people who tried to get political asylum in our country were manipulated," Wathelet said in Serbia. 

Most of the asylum seekers from both Macedonia and Serbia were ethnic Albanians and Roma from impoverished areas in the south of Serbia and northern Macedonia. Albanian leaders have said that the asylum seekers made the requests because of the poor economic, political and security situation in southern Serbia. "People who return here should be provided with good living conditions and this can be achieved only with economic development in the region," the mayor of Bujanovac, Shaip Kamberi, said.
 
Consequences of the visa-free regime
According to the estimates of ethnic Albanian politicians, since the visa-free regime was put in force for Serbia on December 19, 2009, several thousand ethnic Albanians from Serbia have used the possibility to travel without visas to countries within the Schengen zone. About 400 of them requested political asylum in Belgium. Preševo and Bujanovac, municipalities on the border with Kosovo and Macedonia, are among the least developed in Serbia and have both high unemployment rates.

During his stay in Serbia, Leterme reminded that Belgium will take over the EU’s rotating presidency in the second half of 2010, adding that the Western Balkans will be a priority. “I can say that since we met with Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković, and with Skopje leaders, the number of people applying for political asylum has drastically decreased in Belgium. This shows that our efforts have been positive and productive. I think that the problem was addressed in the right way and that it was solved with good cooperation with PMs Cvetković and Gruevski,” Leterme said. He added that he is concerned about future visa liberalization for citizens of other countries, taking into consideration what happened with Serbian and Albanian citizens.

According to official records, 58 Serbian citizens filed for asylum in Belgium in January, 330 in February, and 59 in the first seven days of March. The asylum-seekers were mainly ethnic Albanians from southern Serbia.


Sources: Balkan Insight; B92; Picture (Google Images)