Real danger of visa reintroduction

There is a real danger the people from the Western Balkan countries could again need a visa to enter the Schengen Area, said EP Rapporteur on Visa Liberalization Tanja Fajon.

She explained that visas could be reintroduced if the problem with fake asylum seekers was not resolved soon.

Fajon stressed talks were underway in European institutions about a mechanism for the suspension of visa liberalization.

- The European Commission proposed a suspension mechanism in June this year, as a reaction to the wave of asylum seekers traveling to Belgium, Sweden, Luxembourg, Germany - Fajon told Vecernje Novosti daily.

According to her, if the measure is adopted, member countries will be able to suspend the visa-free regime for any country, including those in the Western Balkans, first for six months, then for nine, and finally to put the country on the black Schengen list.

- The interior ministers of the member countries discussed this on Monday. The same document is also in the European Parliament's Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee, and the Foreign Affairs Committee will also give its opinion - she said.

Fajon stressed the European Commission proposed, among other things, that the rise in asylum seekers must not exceed the average in the last six months prior to the lifting of visas by more than 50 percent.

The new mechanism could come into force when all the details are finalized and it is adopted in the European Parliament and the European Council. “I suppose this will happen next year. Member countries are in a big hurry,” she said.

Asked if the Western Balkans and Serbia should be worried, she said that considering the current atmosphere in the EU, the situation was serious.

Commenting on the EU's warning, Serbian Minister of the Police Ivica Dacic confirmed that the police would increase control at border crossings to reduce the number of false asylum seekers from Serbia to the EU.

He also told Blic daily that the Ministry of the Police had asked Brussels to suggest a list of measures that would help the police in Serbia reduce the number of false asylum seekers.