A bus with some fifty people from Macedonia is leaving from Brussels for Skopje Wednesday. The first Balkan asylum seekers to whom the Belgian authorities offered to take back home at Belgium’s expense were those that requested seats on the bus.

This information closes the story of the asylum seekers from Macedonia, most of whom are from the regions of Kumanovo and Lipkovo and who even withdrew their children from school hoping that Belgium would become their new home. During his Tuesday visit to Lipkovo, Belgian Secretary of State for Immigration and Asylum Melchior Wathelet expressed regret that the economic asylum seekers from this region would have to return home. He added that those that headed for Belgium would not be granted jobs, or accommodation and money and were victims of manipulation as a result of which they wasted money on a useless trip.

“We wished to come here and witness the situation that isn’t easy. However, the residents of this region should know that in Belgium they won’t get either jobs or places to live and will only be victims. They will invest money but will get nothing in return and will have to return to Macedonia,” Mr. Wathelet said.