De Maiziere: Halt rush of asylum seekers from Western Balkan

BERLIN - European activities aimed at halting the influx of asylum seekers from Southeast European and Western Balkan countries need to be stepped up, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Friday.

In the first quarter of this year alone, half of all registered asylum seekers came from Western Balkan countries, De Maiziere said at a conference organised in Nuremberg by the German federal migration and refugee service, German media have reported.

Quoting figures released by the service, he said that citizens of Kosovo top the list with a total of 23,137 asylum requests filed between January and March this year.

They are followed by Syrians (15,444 asylum requests) and citizens of (central) Serbia (9,074 requests). Germany has declared Serbia a safe country of origin - this means that asylum requests submitted by Serbian citizens are illegitimate in principle, but individual requests may be considered.

Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have also been declared safe countries of origin. However, the situation with Kosovo is different because this year Germany has been overwhelmed by a multitude of asylum seekers from Kosovo, which sparked many political debates and earnest calls from Berlin that the Kosovo government halt this.

Photo Tanjug, Z. Zestic (archive photo, illustration)