Serbia not responsible for migration, all measures conducted

BELGRADE - Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic stated on Thursday that Serbia is not responsible for the ongoing migrations that have alarmed Europe of late.

Serbia conducted the action promptly in collaboration with Brussels and some European governments, Vucic told a joint news conference following the talks with European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos in Belgrade.

The prime minister noted that Serbia acted in keeping with the agreement on freedom of movement from Brussels and in collaboration with governments of EU countries, and has implemented an action aimed at returning the people who tried to abuse this kind of trust back to where they had come from.

According to the statements by Pristina officials, around 50,000 people, including 6,000 pupils, left Kosovo since the beginning of the year.

The migrants are ethnic Albanians trying to reach some of the countries in western Europe, usually Austria and Germany.

According to the data of the Serbian Interior Ministry, around 38,000 illegal crossings by migrants were prevented on the Serbian-Hungarian border in 2014, and the list of migrants who tried to illegally enter the country includes citizens from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan who go through Serbia as a transit country.

Vucic noted that his talks with the European commissioner also covered the matters in the jurisdiction of the government and relevant ministries - the Ministry of Interior Affairs and the Justice Ministry - and the connection with issues of migrants and asylum seekers, as well as fight against corruption, organised crime in the region and terrorism.

The talks also covered the European future of Serbia and the fact that the...