Germany Warns Serbia to Change Visa Practice if It Hopes to Join the EU
Germany, as well as the EU, have increased their pressure on Serbia to tighten the visa rules for migrants as data have shown that a total of 19,160 detections on the Western Balkan route were made in September alone, AtoZSerwisPlus.de reports.
Info Migrants explains that the Minister of Interior of Germany, Nancy Faeser, has required Serbia to speed up the processes of aligning its current visa policies with those of the EU Member States.
Additionally, at the meeting of EU interior ministers that was held in Luxembourg, Faeser stressed that there are criteria for a country to be a member of the EU as well as part of the common visa policy that the bloc has.
“Serbia has to adapt its visa practice to the EU if it wants to become an accession candidate,” Faeser emphasised.
Since Serbia has a visa-free entry agreement with the EU, it allows nationals of some third countries like India, Tunisia, Burundi, and Syria to enter its territory without being required to hold a visa. Therefore, the EU authorities have expressed their concern as Serbia’s visa practice is not the same as the one of the EU Member States.
The same source notes that the visa agreement that Serbia has with the EU applies only for short-term stays. Nonetheless, migrants who have reached the EU via Serbia have been staying longer than permitted.
The Commission of the European Union also commented on the matter last week. The European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, said that she does not exclude the possibility of the EU decided to suspend the visa-free deal with Serbia that has been in place since 2009.
“I do hope, and I do think that Serbia and other Western Balkan partners will cooperate with us and align their visa policy with the EU. But of course, this [the suspension of the visa-free agreement] is nothing that I will exclude,” the statement of Johansson reads.
Apart from the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, the Minister of Interior of the Czech Republic, Vít Rakušan, also commented on the matter on behalf of the EU Council’s rotating presidency. He said that ‘the consequences of the migration wave from Serbia are seen in every corner of the EU.
