Johansson: Cooperation with Serbia is good, the visa policy alignment has brought results

February 01 2023 |

Johansson: Cooperation with Serbia is good, the visa policy alignment has brought results

The cooperation between the European Union and Serbia in the management of illegal migration is very good and the alignment with the visa policy of Brussels immediately brought results, European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said today. 

In an interview with correspondents of member agencies of the joint European newsroom, European Newsroom (ENR), including Tanjug, whose interview pieces are conveyed by the Ministry of European Integration, she said that last year there were 330,000 illegal entries into the EU and reminded that the “alarm was on” in Brussels last summer because of the large number of migrants coming via the Western Balkan and Mediterranean routes. 

That is why the European Commission contacted the countries of the Western Balkans – Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina – and asked them to align their visa policy with the EU visa policy. 

“We have noticed that a large number of arrivals in the EU from third countries go through Serbia. For this reason, we from the Commission, as well as the EU member states, contacted Serbia, and Serbia’s response was very good, in that it wants to cooperate with us in order to deal with this issue and manage the situation. Now Serbia has aligned its visa policy with the most important third countries. So I can say that the cooperation with Serbia is very good in the management of irregular migration with the Western Balkans”, said Johansson.

She conveyed the readiness of the EU to continue even closer cooperation in other areas as well, such as the deployment of Frontex on the border of Serbia. 

“I have already met with the Joint Readmission Committee, together with Serbia, so the cooperation with that country is very good”, said Johansson. She indicated that, thus, at the end of 2022, the Commission recorded a drop in the number of illegal arrivals via the Western Balkans route by one-third. 

Last year, 924,000 asylum applications were submitted to the EU, which is almost three times the number of illegal arrivals, and only 39 per cent of asylum applications were approved.

Johansson points out that it is therefore important for people who do not have the right to asylum to return to their countries “to show that you cannot just come and stay in the EU”. She adds that last year, 300,000 return decisions were made, and only 70,000 came back. She, therefore, asked member states to work together with the Commission to achieve greater success in returning migrants to their countries.

Source: Tanjug