The number of asylum seekers from B&H to Schengen Zone countries reduced by four percent in 2013 compared with the earlier year, shown by the latest daate of the European Service for External Borders EU Frontex, and reported by ‘Nezavisne’.
According to this data, in 2013 4.249 people from B&H filed an application for asylum in Schengen Zone countries, and in December 2013 in comparison to November of the same year asylum seekers were less by 28 percent. It is interpreted that the smaller number of asylum seekers is due to the vacation season, and fewer people are traveling to EU countries in order to seek asylum.
In December in EU countries, 417 holders of B&H passports filed for asylum.
Also, in 2013 the number of requests for asylum from B&H in all major Schengen countries reduced, except in Germany, where it increased by as much as 66 percent. In Sweden it was less by 67 percent, 55 percent in Switzerland, 47 percent in Luxembourg, 34 percent in Belgium. Bakir Dautbašić, head of the B&H Monitoring Team for monitoring the application of a visa-free regime, said that he was pleased with the fact that last year there was a reduction in the number of asylum seekers from B&H by four percent.
(Source: ekapija.ba)
