Germany's Interior Ministry: Serbia has become a centre for illegal migration

Faeser along with EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson held a press conference after meeting with representatives of Western Balkan countries in Berlin.

“It is true that it has to do with people fleeing the cause of unemployment and political persecution, but also, no one should risk life by describing dangerous escape routes”, Faeser said.

According to EU data, more than 86 thousand people came to Europe via the Balkan route in the first eight months of this year. This is three times more than in the same period last year.

As Johansson and Faeser report, visa practice was one of the main topics of the meeting, and the focus is especially in Serbia.

Serbia has become a centre for illegal migration. This also concerns the fact that Belgrade does not have visa regimes for several countries, including Cuba, Tunisia and Burundi. At the meeting, it was agreed that Serbian law would be adjusted to that European visa regulations”, Faeser and Johannesburg reported, writes Frankfurter Allgemen Zeitung.

Representatives of six Western Balkan countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia and Serbia, as well as delegates from the EU and Bulgaria, France, Greece, Italy, Croatia, Austria, Poland, Slovenia, Czechia. The Republic and the United Kingdom met in Berlin.

In recent months, the number of people coming to Germany via Mediterranean roads and the Balkans has increased significantly. By the end of September, German Federal Police had registered nearly 58 thousand unauthorized entry to the border - the entry of persons without permission to stay.

According to preliminary data, only in September of this year, 12720 cases have been recorded -- double the year before.

Otherwise, a ministerial summit will be held today in Berlin under the Berlin Process.