PM orders steps to tackle fake asylum seeking

BELGRADE Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic ordered on Wednesday all ministries take urgent steps to reduce the number of fake asylum seekers, the government has stated. The PM was meeting with a commission set up to monitor the visa-free arrangement with the EU. PM orders steps to tackle fake asylum seeking Dacic will discuss those measures with European partners and travel together with members of the government team for Western Europe, where the issue is particularly severe, in order to agree on a joint strategy to cut down on the number of fake asylum seekers. Preserving the visa liberalization is "one of the most important tasks of the Serbian government", Dacic was quoted as saying at the meeting. The participants of the meeting analyzed the current situation and worked out a plan for dealing with it, the statement says. Reports earlier this week suggested that six EU countries would demand that visas be reintroduced for Serbian citizens traveling to the Schengen zone, and cited a high number of fake asylum seekers as the reason behind this demand. But the European Commission (EC) officials said that they had "no knowledge or information indicating that a majority of EU countries favor abolishing the visa-free travel regime with Serbia", confirming at the same time urgent measures were being requested to prevent abuses of the regime. Germany is one of the countries in question, and Henry Bonnet, from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation - close to the country's ruling conservatives - said that the Serbian government's offer to pay the expenses incurred by some 10,000 asylum seekers currently in EU countries - was "not enough": "I think there must be something more than simply taking on the cost for the people who wish to use the current benefits of the system. The main reason must be solved because of which people have a low standard of living, which isn't easy for Serbia to solve with an empty budget. But it's possible to make progress, especially on the local level, by bringing in NGOs and the Church." The meeting of the commission (Beta) B92 Beta Tanjug

PM orders steps to tackle fake asylum seeking

Dačić will discuss those measures with European partners and travel together with members of the government team for Western Europe, where the issue is particularly severe, in order to agree on a joint strategy to cut down on the number of fake asylum seekers.

Preserving the visa liberalization is "one of the most important tasks of the Serbian government", Dačić was quoted as saying at the meeting.

The participants of the meeting analyzed the current situation and worked out a plan for dealing with it, the statement says.

Reports earlier this week suggested that six EU countries would demand that visas be reintroduced for Serbian citizens traveling to the Schengen zone, and cited a high number of fake asylum seekers as the reason behind this demand.

But the European Commission (EC) officials said that they had "no knowledge or information indicating that a majority of EU countries favor abolishing the visa-free travel regime with Serbia", confirming at the same time urgent measures were being requested to prevent abuses of the regime.

Germany is one of the countries in question, and Henry Bonnet, from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation - close to the country's ruling conservatives - said that the Serbian government's offer to pay the expenses incurred by some 10,000 asylum seekers currently in EU countries - was "not enough":

"I think there must be something more than simply taking on the cost for the people who wish to use the current benefits of the system. The main reason must be solved because of which people have a low standard of living, which isn't easy for Serbia to solve with an empty budget. But it's possible to make progress, especially on the local level, by bringing in NGOs and the Church."