With 631 votes for and 236 against, the European Parliament adopted "a protection clause" that will allow the Commission to suspend the visa-free regime for the Western Balkans, or other countries, that are deemed a source of excessive numbers of false asylum-seekers.

The protection clause may be applied if the number of illegal immigrants from a certain country is considered a threat to the "public order" or security of individual EU states or the EU as a whole.

The mechanism could be adopted at the next meeting of the EU Council of Ministers for Justice and Home Affairs, this month or next.

Cecilia Malmstrom, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, said that the new suspension mechanism will help preserve the integrity of the visa liberalisation processes and build up its credibility.

"This mechanism does not target any specific third country or region, but applies equally to all countries that benefit or will benefit from visa-free travel to the EU in the future," she added.

Tanja Fajon, the European Parliament's former rapporteur for visa liberalisation, opposed the mechanism but said there was no danger of it being used for Western Balkan countries soon. One reason for this is because the latest European Commission report on the functioning of the EU's passport-free Schengen area says the overall number of asylum applications from the Western Balkans in the top five EU/Schengen states fell by 44 per cent in January 2013 compared to January 2012.

The top destination countries for asylum seekers remains Germany, followed by Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg.

Original Source: Balkan Insight