Balkans Await More Refugees as Germany Exits Schengen

Macedonia and Serbia, which both lie on the transit route to the EU, said they were prepared for more arrivals despite Germany's announcement on Sunday that it would be temporarily exiting the Schengen passport-free zone and reintroducing to deal with the large influx of refugees.

As the inflow of refugees continued during the weekend, Macedonian Defence Minister Zoran Jolevski said that the country does not plan to drastically change its course of action, except to renew the state of emergency at its southern border with Greece in order to keep the army in the area to help police officers handle the crisis.

"We are doing everything to offer migrants a humane and speedy transit through Macedonia in order to make their hard journey somewhat easier. We hope that this wave will stop as soon as possible but our information says otherwise," Jolevski said.

The Macedonian Foreign Ministry meanwhile tried to downplay a statement by Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki, who told a Hungarian newspaper that Macedonia is thinking of fencing off its southern border.

The ministry said that media omitted to mention the part of the interview in which Poposki says that he does not think that building a fence is a good idea.

"There is nothing extraordinary at the moment at the southern and northern borders. We remain vigilant in case of any changes," Macedonian Police spokesperson Ivo Kotevski told BIRN.

Serbian Labour Minister Aleksandar Vulin said on Monday that the government was expecting more migrants to stay in Serbia after Germany announced emergency border controls but added that Belgrade would respect its international obligations.

In an interview with Serbian public broadcaster RTS, Vulin rejected any possibility of Serbia erecting...