Gerginov: Serbian citizens seek asylum in EU to get welfare

BELGRADE - Serbian citizens filed 22,500 asylum requests in the countries of the EU in 2013, but the visa-free travel arrangement with the EU is not under threat because of it, Serbia's Assistant Commissioner for Refugees and Migrations Ivan Gerginov said on Tuesday.

Ethnic Albanians number the highest amon the asylees from Serbia and the two reasons for it are: poor financial and housing situation and good welfare in the EU, he told Radio and Television of Serbia.

"No one has sought to revoke visa-free travel because of it, but the possibility is always there," he noted, adding that the government had formed a committee to protect the visa-free travel regime with the EU.

The number of asylum requests from Serbia has dropped drastically in Germany since that country included Serbia in the list of safe countries, he pointed out.

"The chief motive to seek asylum in Germany was the welfare, which is at around EUR 1,000," Gerginov explained.

When it comes to asylees in Serbia, around 4,500 foreigners have requested asylum since the start of the year and around 10 of them have received some form of protection, he said.

Serbia is a transit country for them and the asylum is just a measure of protection, he remarked.

According to the European Commission's annual report presented on Monday, people from the Western Balkans filed 78,000 asylum requests in the EU in 2013.

The number of asylees from Serbia, who were mostly Roma, went up by 17 percent in 2013 compared to the year before and totalled 22,500 people, putting Serbia way ahead of the other countries in the region in terms of those numbers.

Photo Tanjug. D.Pavlovic