In a
press release issued amid fresh speculation by the media with respect to the
suspension of the visa-free regime for the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina
(BiH), the Swedish Embassy says that the current media attention seems to stem
from a newspaper article published by the Swedish Sydsvenska Dagbladet on
Tuesday. It was an interview with the Swedish Minister for Migration Tobias Billström,
and the Swedish Embassy claims that some parts of it were poorly translated or
that the interview was wrongly interpreted.
The press
release signed by Ambassador Bosse Hedberg reads that the EU is at this point
having an internal advisory meeting concerning the narrative related to the
introduction of a suspension mechanism. “At this point, the text on the
mechanism is worded neutrally and does not place any specific focus on the
Western Balkans asylum seeking trend. It is important to note that the Sweden’s
support to the introduction of the suspension mechanism does not mean that
Sweden will automatically support its immediate application,” notes Ambassador
Hedberg.
He
asserts that the Swedish Government is well aware of the importance of the
recently introduced visa-free regime for the citizens and countries of the
Western Balkans, and claims that the manner in which that freedom is used in
unacceptable.
”Sweden
is one of the EU Member States affected by the asylum trend the most, with
around 20,000 asylum applications submitted by the people from the region since
the 2009 institution of the visa-free regime. We are hopeful that the present
situation in the Western Balkans can be resolved in the shortest period
possible by a combination of long-term and short-term measures,” says Hedberg.
The
Swedish Ambassador believes that short-term measures should entail further
efforts to improve the social status of minorities and vulnerable groups.
The media
reported earlier that Swedish Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy Tobias
Billström had sent a letter to the governments of the EU Member States,
supporting the idea of reinstating visas for the citizens of Serbia, Albania,
BiH, Macedonia and Montenegro when travelling to the EU.
(Srna/Frontal)
