Rise in Asylum Seekers from Region Worries EU

His statement came after Belgium complained last week that it has been flooded with asylum application from Macedonian and Serbian citizens who have been manipulated by local travel agencies into believing that they could easily get asylum status in the country.

 “We appreciate the efforts by the [Macedonian] Ministry of Interior, but more efforts should be invested to prevent the travel agencies from abusing people's trust,” Fouere noted.

Since visa-free travel to the EU for these countries came into force at the end of 2009, Brussels has registered some 400 Macedonian citizens and roughly the same number of Serbians who have applied for asylum. This is double the number of total applications filed during all of 2009, Brussels reports.

“This goes against the spirit of the visa liberalisation," Fouere said, adding that visa liberalisation refers only to short term tourist stays.

Macedonian Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska on Monday explained that most of the emigrants are from Macedonia’s under developed rural areas and leave the country in search of a better life.

The government appealed to its citizens not to fall victim to offers from “agencies or individuals whose main aim is material gain.”

Belgium said it will reject most of the applications as ungrounded, as citizens from countries which enjoy visa-free travel are generally not eligible for asylum status.

“The chances that those people can get asylum are minimal, if nonexistent,” Freddy Roosemont, the general director of the Belgian Office for Foreigners, said last week. He noted that the country had received more applications for asylum from Macedonia than from Afghanistan, which he called nonsense.

Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme is due to travel to Skopje next Monday to review the situation. He is to meet Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

A meeting with Serbian PM Mirko Cvetkovic was also announced.