Serbian PM Condemns Hungarian Border Fence

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic told the Serbian public broadcaster RTS on June 17 that he was "surprised and shocked" by the Hungarian decision to fence off the border to stop migrants from entering the country.

"I do not understand this move but I expect to receive a logical answer from the Hungarian Prime Minister. We'll talk about it on July 1 at the Serbian-Hungary government joint session," he said. "I do not think the solution is to raise the walls, especially if Serbia is not to blame," Vucic said.

Vucic noted that Serbia was just a transit country for illegal migrants - and that they mostly entered Serbia through two EU member countries - Greece and Bulgaria.

"What are we supposed to do now - to build up the wall with Bulgaria and Macedonia, where the migrants come from? Serbia will not do that, we will not close up and live in Auschwitz," Vucic added.

Hungary needs to put up a fence along the border with Serbia to stop migrants entering the country in increasing numbers, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on June 17.

News reports say Szijjarto added that Hungary intended to erect a four-meter high fence along all 175 kilometers of the border. He said erecting the fence did not contravene any international agreement.

Hungary's National Office of Immigration said the country has received more than 50,000 asylum requests so far this year, which is already higher than the total number for 2014, which was around 43,000. About 70 per cent of the refugees came from Afghanistan, Syria or Iraq.

Data from the UNHCR show the number of asylum seekers in Serbia by June 1 was 22,182 which is already more than for the whole of 2014, where there were around 12,000.

Earlier this year, EU member Bulgaria...