Increasing illegal crossings, Czech presidency: Albania removes visa-free movement

The Czech residence has proposed banning free movement in the region as a way to curb irregular immigration.

“The fact that Serbia and Albania never fully accessed their motion lists with the EU, despite they enjoy visa-free travel to the bloc, contributes to the increasing number of irregular migrants entering the European Union through this”, said an internal memo of this presidency.

“States from Turkey, Tunisia, India, Cuba and Burundi are entering legally without airline visas in Serbia, and some of these countries are also entering Albania, while a very high number of them are moving further towards EU member states”, the document notes.

These are nationalities that have not been encountered so long ago on this road, and there is the risk of a growing trend,” is further underlined. In particular, the Balkan route is recently being used by Indian citizens. Croatia and Slovenia, for example, noted in memo, last year had no asylum applications from India, Burndu or Cuba, while 1,700 registered this year.

The proposal underlines the idea of several measures aimed at reducing the number of illegal immigrants entering the EU through the Western Balkans. The increase in the number of illegal immigrants is putting pressure on neighbouring EU states Austria, Croatia, as well as Slovenia. Therefore, diplomatic pressure on Albania and Serbia to harmonise visa removals and bring back more irregular immigrants is highlighted in the document.

If diplomatic efforts fail, the EU must also prepare and consider a list of other measures that can be used, including in the context of the visa suspension mechanism”, the memo says. /Top Channel