Serbia is to launch joint police and army patrols to beef up its borders against migrants, premier Aleksandar Vucic said Saturday, warning his country would not become a "parking lot" for EU-bound refugees. The number of migrants blocked in Serbia has grown constantly since Hungary, its northern neighbour, introduced tough new measures aimed at stopping migrants earlier this month. "We will form joint army and police teams to protect our border," Vucic told reporters, while giving no details of how many troops would be involved.
As of Saturday there were a total of 2,669 migrants in Serbia, of which 85 percent were from Afghanistan and Pakistan and including a very small number of Syrians, Vucic said. The prime minister warned that migrants entering Serbia without documents and not seeking asylum would be evicted within 30 days. Serbia can accommodate 6,000 to 7,000 migrants.
Vucic urged the European Union to find a "global solution" to the tide of migrants which began flooding in last year, triggering Europe's worst such crisis since World War II. He warned that Serbia would not be a "parking lot for Afghans and Pakistani arrived in Serbia from EU countries, whom no one wants."