NEWS

Serbia and EU sign an agreement of return

Those Serbs residing in European countries without the needed authorisation will be readmitted by Serbia.

The 1st of January of the current year, entered into force the Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Serbia on readmission of persons residing without authorisation. It was signed together with the agreement regulating the relaxation of visa requirements for Serbian citizens, which also opens the way for a visa-free regime.

Under the readmission agreement, Serbia assumes the obligation to readmit, upon application of a Member State of the EU, any Serbian national who does not fulfil the conditions in force for entry, presence or residence on the territory of that State. Further more, Serbia also has the commitment of readmitting third-country nationals and stateless persons in the same situation who have a valid visa from Serbia or who entered the Member State through Serbia. On the other hand, the EU Member States assume the same obligation towards Serbia.

It is not the first time that Serbia acquires such a compromise with EU countries. Bilateral agreements on readmission were signed between Serbia and most of the old EU states and some of the new members. As a result, 15.000 people have been repatriated to Serbia through Belgrade airport.

Even if already around 120 people were arriving to Serbia every month as consequence of the bilateral agreements, the commitment of the EU agreement raised some concerns in the NGO sector: the number of expected forced returnee amounts to 100,000 people.

It is not clear whether Serbia can absorb such number of returnees with the proper guarantees. Even before the signing of the EU agreement, international organisations such as Amnesty International and the Council of Europe had already stated that these agreements do not set clear conditions for the reception of refugees and expressed their concern with the lack of guarantees with regard to the reception of the returnees in Serbia. The agreements contain elements such as shortened procedures, collective deportation or short deadlines to prepare return, which is criticized by the NGO sector in Serbia.

The “avalanche” of forced returnees expected from 1st of January has not happened. By middle February, Serbia had received up to 120 applications from member States following the procedure of the EU agreement. Thus, it could be expected that the process of readmission will be graduate, but it is still uncertain the number of returnees that will be arriving in the future.

The government has set up some structures to ease the process such as airport info-desk. Advisory boards and Working groups have also been established at governmental and non-governmental level but there is still not comprehensive strategy. However, the international community, EU countries and government of Serbia must take seriously the warnings that additional guarantees should be set to ensure the respect to human rights and international standards for the protection of refugees.

Top