Druk op Belgisch asiel-systeem door nieuwe Europese visa-regeling (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU's new visa-free travel regime with three Balkan countries has led to a sudden increase in asylum seekers in Belgium, with the European Commission urging restraint.
The number of Macedonian asylum applications to Belgium went up from 200 in all of 2009 to 401 in January and February, following the lifting of visa requirements for Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro at the turn of the year.
The number of Serbian applications also jumped up from 514 last year to 347 in the first two months of 2010.
"Some people in these countries make it seem as if it's very easy to get asylum in Belgium. People are saying: 'Go to Belgium. You get a house. You get whatever you want," Dominique Dehaene, a spokesman for the Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme i, told EUobserver.
Only recognised asylum seekers are in fact allowed to stay in Belgium and to receive a living allowance.
Mr Dehaene said Belgium continues to support visa liberalisation, amid EU plans to extend the new freedoms to Albania, Bosnia and, potentially, Kosovo, in the coming year. "Visa liberalisation is a good thing. But it has to be used in the right way," he said.
Mr Leterme will on Friday (5 March) meet with Serbian leader Mirko Cvetcovic in Brussels to raise the issue. Serbia on Tuesday promised to launch a media campaign to tell bogus would-be applicants that the EU will send them back and to look into possible criminal elements in the trend.
Mr Leterme will on Monday also visit Macedonia. His spokesman explained the trip was already scheduled as part of part of preparations for Belgium's EU presidency later this year. But the asylum problem "might have speeded things up."
The European Commission on Tuesday also urged visa-free countries to set the facts straight.
"The vast majority of these applications are out of economic interests and have little chance of success," commission spokesman Michele Cercone said. "This freedom comes with a responsibility."
Several former Soviet countries, including Ukraine, Georgia and Russia itself, are also hoping to get onto the EU visa-free list in the near future. But the Belgian experience is likely to damage popular support in the union for further relaxing controls.