Reactions to "migrant centers in Serbia" and Frontex arrival

The head of the Internal Ministry (MUP) Department for International Cooperation Zoran Lazarov on Tuesday denied media reports that Serbia and the EU had signed an agreement on the deployment of members of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) on Serbia's borders.

Stating that there is a procedure whereby this type of agreement is first to be initialed and then signed, Lazarov recalled that, should such an agreement be signed, it would have to be ratified in the Serbian Assembly under a binding procedure, without which it could not come into force.

"It is necessary to remind that if representatives of Frontex were to be placed on our borders, their role would be to protect the state borders from migrants, exclusively in cooperation with the Serbian police," Lazarov said, according to the MUP.

Lazarov also recalled that Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic "repeatedly said that Serbia will not become any kind of zone for the accommodation of migrants and that this is a clear position of Serbia."

"I believe that we should not even remind domestic and inernational public that Serbia always treats migrants and acts in accordance with all international rules and humane principles," Lazarov said.

This reaction comes after Germany's Deutsche Welle broadcaster in the Serbian language reported earlier that the European Union intends to significantly strengthen the border security service Frontex, and, as part of its migration policy, "engage it in the Western Balkans, including in Serbia."

The head of the EU Delegation to Serbia, Sem Fabrizi, said that Dimitris Avramopoulos, EU's migration, home affairs, and citizenship commissioner, would soon visit Serbia, adding that he assumes that a status...