For the time being, the European Commission is not intending to limit visa-free travel to the European Union for Serbian and Macedonian citizens, because of the sudden influx of "asylum seekers," but the authorities in Belgrade and Skopje have been requested to remove this "very limited and specific problem" by concrete measures.

The Serbian and Macedonian authorities should do this together with the European Commission and member countries of the EU, and it is with this aim that the high officials of Belgium and the EC have traveled to Belgrade and Skopje, Michele Cercone, the press representative of the European commissioner for internal affairs and the judiciary, Cecilia Malmstrom, stated in Brussels on Oct. 21.

He confirmed information about commissioner Malmstrom having sent a letter to the Serbian and Macedonian interior ministers, Ivica Dacic and Gordana Jankulovska, with the request for everything to be done for the majority of people from Serbia and Macedonia who abide by regulations, not to be punished because of abuses by a very limited minority.

In the letter, commissioner Malmstrom warned about the "very worrying phenomenon" of the rapid increase of persons from Serbia and Macedonia seeking asylum, especially in Belgium and Germany, stating that this could seriously jeopardize the entire process of visa liberalization in the Western Balkans.