Asylum system abuse

摘要

"Fake asylum seekers", warns a poster in Belgrade airport, "risk everything." It is three years since Serbs, Macedonians and Montenegrins got the freedom to travel without a visa to Europe's 26-member Schengen zone. Bosnians and Albanians received it a year later. They see it as the single most valued prize in the European integration process. The five Balkan countries may not be allowed to keep it. The reason is surging numbers of asylum seekers, especially from Serbia and Macedonia. In 2009, before visas were lifted for them, 9,860 of their citizens applied for asylum in the European Union (eu). In 2012, with incomplete data to October, the figure stood at 33,530 (see chart). Serbian citizens in Germany made 10,412 applications and Macedonians 6,012. Serbs topped the list of asylum seekers there, well ahead of Afghans and Syrians.