From BZ/dpa
Before a conference with representatives of the Western Balkan states, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) called for illegal migration via the so-called Balkan route to be curbed.
In Europe, there is a shared responsibility to stop illegal entries, “so that we can continue to help people who urgently need our support,” Faeser told the editorial network Germany (RND/Thursday).
“We have taken in more than a million refugees from Ukraine in Germany since the beginning of the war,” said the minister. In addition, more people are coming to Europe via the Mediterranean and the Balkan route.
In order to curb migration via the Balkan route, a bundle of measures will be discussed at the meeting in Berlin on Thursday. These included aligning the visa policy of the Western Balkan states with EU standards, combating smuggling and ensuring effective border protection. You also have to talk about procedures for returning people “who have no right to stay with us,” said Faeser.
“Closing the Balkan route has never worked before”
The migration researcher and co-founder of the think tank European Stability Initiative, Gerald Knaus, considers attempts to prevent immigration via the Balkan route to the EU to be useless.
“Closing the Balkan route has never worked before,” Knaus told RND (Thursday). “The pressure is currently not created by illegal, but by legal migration. Nine out of ten refugees come from Ukraine,” says Knaus.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) at a press conference in Berlin Photo: picture alliance/dpa
Faeser invited representatives of the six Western Balkan countries Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia to the consultations in Berlin. There are also delegates from the EU, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Italy, Croatia, Austria, Poland, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. One day later, the foreign ministers also plan to meet in Berlin for the conference on the Western Balkans.