Brussels - European Union interior ministers are expected to agree next week to scrap visa requirements for Bosnian and Albanian citizens, but only grudgingly, officials said on Friday.
France and the Netherlands were the countries singled out by several diplomats as having the strongest reservations over the move.
'We are not satisfied with the procedure as a whole,' a diplomat from the sceptic group said, arguing that the European Commission had been too rash in judging that the two countries have met EU standards on border controls.
'We are looking at the intentions more than at the results,' he added.
Concerns have been fueled by a sudden influx of asylum seekers from Serbia and Macedonia after they - together with Montenegro - were granted free access to the EU's border-free Schengen area last December.
Ministers - due to decide by majority voting - were nevertheless expected to give a positive opinion on Bosnia and Albania, to be implemented as from the end of the year. The European Parliament already approved the move last month.
However, in a bid to address some member states' concerns, the decision will be accompanied by a written pledge from the European Commission to keep a close eye on migration flows from all Western Balkan countries.
Officials say there is growing unease among interior ministers about the EU using migration policy as a tool to extend its soft power, with little consideration over the practical repercussions on law and order.
'Visas have a tendency to become diplomatic gifts,' one diplomat said, stressing that recent commission proposals to start visa talks with Moldova have been successfully watered down by EU governments.
Diplomats also warned that growing hostility towards loosening border controls in some of the EU's biggest members does not bode well for Romania and Bulgaria's bid to join the Schengen area in March.
The border-free zone currently encompasses all EU states except Britain, Ireland, Romania and Bulgaria, plus Switzerland, Norway and Iceland.
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