Ahead of a summit meeting of heads of state and government in Tirana this Tuesday, the EU Commission has urged the states of the Western Balkans to cooperate more closely to curb irregular migration.

It was "made clear to the partners that there is an urgent need for action," said Vice President Margaritis Schinas.

This applies in particular to the adjustment to the EU's visa policy, but also to other measures such as the stationing of EU border guards.

The Commission presented an action plan.

Thomas Gutschker

Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.

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According to the commission, 130,000 illegal border crossings have been registered on the migration routes in the Balkans this year, a threefold increase compared to the same period last year.

The actual number of entries is likely to be even higher, as EU Interior Commissioner Ylva Johansson explained on Monday.

She pointed out that 660,000 first-time asylum applications this year only prevented around 250,000 registered irregular entries via all migration routes.

The Commission is urging that all states in the Western Balkans only allow visa-free entry to citizens from countries that also enjoy this privilege in the EU.

Serbia in particular has blatantly violated this so far.

Faced with the threat of losing visa-free entry itself, Belgrade has meanwhile changed its regulations for Tunisia and Burundi and promised to do the same for India.

Johansson acknowledged this, but pointed out that the other states also had to close "loopholes".

Otherwise they too will have to accept limitations.

Brussels has identified the border between Serbia and Hungary as another gateway.

The Commission wants to send officials from Frontex and Europol there and discuss this with both countries.

For the first time, EU border guards are also to be deployed between countries in the Western Balkans;

stationing agreements were made for this purpose.

With these measures, the Commission wants to flank the expansion of the Schengen area to include Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania, which it advocates.