At their meeting in Luxembourg on June 9, the interior and justice ministers of the EU did not discuss any temporary suspension of the EU visafree regime for countries of the Western Balkans.

Their conclusion was that countries of the Western Balkans have "made certain progress" in the implementation of the EU visa liberalization, although many asylumseekers are still arriving from Serbia and the FYR Macedonia.

The European commissioner for internal affairs, Cecilia Malmstrom, stressed that certain EU members expressed concern because of this, adding that an agreement was made for this issue to be reconsidered very soon.

The commissioner added that the Commission also presented to the ministers the mechanism that has been prepared for the urgent suspension, for a period of six to nine months, of the visafree regime, in emergency situations when the inflow of "fake asylumseekers" and illegal immigrants from the Western Balkans into the "Schengen zone" increases by more than 50 percent in six months.