Belgium will not grant political asylum to economic refugees: PM

(SKOPJE) - Belgium will not grant political asylum to economic refugees, Prime Minister Yves Leterme said during a visit Macedonia.

Belgium "is not granting political asylum to economic refugees so it makes no sense to travel from Macedonia to Belgium in order to seek the status of political refugees," he said.

Leterme was speaking Monday after talks with his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Grueski.

He was reacting to a sudden surge in the number of applicants for asylum following the lifting of EU visa restrictions for Macedonian and Serbian citizens.

Warning that the chances of applicants effectively getting asylum on economic grounds in Belgium were "absolutely non-existent", he praised Skopje for having moved to "discourage" the trend at their end.

The number of applicants had dramatically fallen off to almost zero in recent days, he said.

There was alarm in Belgium after some 400 Macedonian and 300 Serbian citizens of Albanian origin sought political asylym in Belgium in February, up from 40 in February 2009, officials said.

In December the European Union lifted visa restrictions for citizens of Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia travelling into the Schengen zone, which covers most EU countries.

Gruevski said his government has taken steps to explain to Macedonians that the relaxation in travel restrictions did not mean people could claim asylum abroad.

"The citizens have obviously been manipulated," he said, adding that police would be investigating reports that some people had organized trips to this end.