Increasing numbers of Cuban, Indian and Turkish citizens are crossing through Albania and Serbia to seek asylum in the European Union, prompting negotiations to suspend visa-free travel to the Balkans Westerners.
According to the Czech EU Presidency, as Serbia and Albania have never fully aligned their overseas visa waiver lists with those of the EU, even though they benefit from visa-free travel in the bloc, this contributes to the increase in the number of irregular migrants entering the EU. by this road, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
“Nationals of Turkey, Tunisia, India, Cuba and Burundi, in particular, enter legally (without a visa) by air into Serbia (and from some of these countries also into Albania) and a very large number of ‘of them move irregularly to EU member countries. States,” he also said.
However, many Afghan and Syrian citizens, a total of 60,000, attempted to enter the EU illegally in January-August this year, compared to 51,000 for the whole of last year.
Meanwhile, the number of people from the Western Balkans and Burundi has also increased significantly, with 259 so far this year, compared to zero last year. At the same time, there was an increase in the number of Cubans with 339 against 36 last year, Indians 4,469 this year against 557 in 2021, Tunisians 5,777 against 842 and Turks 6,186 against 1,652.
“Indian nationals arrive irregularly in the EU almost exclusively via the Western Balkan route. The same goes for Cuban nationals. Regarding Tunisians and Turks, arrivals are increasing significantly on the Western Balkans route while they are stable or decreasing on other routes,” underlined the Czech presidency.
The same situation due to irregular arrivals into the EU via the Western Balkan route has almost affected and increased the pressure on neighboring European states Austria, Croatia and Slovenia, as well as Hungary, which has built an anti-immigration wall on its border. .
However, Croatia and Slovenia, which did not receive any asylum applications from Burundi, Cuba or India last year, have received more than 1,700 applications this year.
According to local Czech media, ideas to reduce this number include diplomatic pressure on Albania and Serbia to harmonize visa waivers and bring back more irregular migrants and sending EU border guards to the states. Western Balkans, as well as pressure on airlines to prevent “abuses”.
In addition, Prague, which holds the EU presidency until the end of the year, has proposed suspending visa-free travel from Albania and Serbia.
In 2015, the migrant crisis hit the Western Balkans, when more than a million refugees entered the EU irregularly, most via Southeast Europe.
This figure was later reduced by the fallout from the war in Ukraine, with around 4.31 million Ukrainians receiving “temporary protection” in the EU since Russia invaded the country in February.
According to a special note from the Czech EU Presidency, some 744,000 Ukrainians still in the country risk leaving their homes this winter due to damage to housing and heating infrastructure.
NOTE: The title of a previous version of this article said “imposes”, instead of “proposes”. The article was updated immediately after publication on October 14.