Macedonia is facing a unique problem – inflow of migrants “from EU countries”, said the first Macedonian diplomat, Nikola Poposki at the press conference in Vienna that is part of the summit dedicated to the West Balkans.
Poposki announced that until recently, around 4000 migrants had been entering each day. According to latest estimates, this period the number will be around 3000 migrants per day.
The Foreign minister expressed the need for financial help for the region, adding that one million euro will not suffice.
Poposki’s remark came one day after the European Commission dedicated 1.5 million euro to help Macedonia and Serbia deal with the refugee crisis.
-As long as the EU doesn’t have an answer to this question, none of will be under the illusion that the issue will be resolved. It is encouraging that the EU is aware about the problems- said Poposki.
Serbia’s minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic said raising fences is not a solution.
-For years now you have been saying that exile seekers come to the EU from Serbia and Macedonia, but we can say that the migrants are coming from the EU. So we are asking: when do you plan to control the problem and how do you expect to prevent them from coming in. You are not going to achieve that with one million euro as you are planning to give”, said Dacic.
According to him, the EU wants Serbia and the countries from the region to develop an Action plan for the migrants, but adds it should “develop its own plan”.
-Because you don’t have an action plan in Europe, we must bear the heavy load and we are conscious about that- said Dacic.
The Serbian diplomat said that the conference in October dedicated to the migrant problem has been scheduled too late.
-It is easy to create problems in other parts of the world, while we are paying the price for that. We definitely are not responsible for the problems in the countries where migrants are coming from, and each day our border is crossed by 2000 people- stated Dacic.
