BELGRADE – There is a likelihood of a part of the money from a Syria fund being invested in keeping in place a portion of the migrants in Serbia and Macedonia, and even more of them can be expected to arrive in the spring, Asylum Protection Centre Director Radoš Đurović said Wednesday.
“Unfortunately, there is a likelihood of this happening. We see more and more that they are kept in place. The Balkans is like a zone that can ease the pressure and in which those people can stay,” Đurović told the RTS.
Đurović was reacting to a report by the Euractiv portal, which said that a fund set up to help Syrian refugees and neighbouring host countries, such as Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq, will also be used to help migrants who made it to Macedonia and Serbia in order to keep them in place.
Asked whether Serbia can refuse to comply, Đurović said that it would be very difficult to do in practice.
“Those people are coming – Serbia cannot stop them, the smuggling is growing, and they just cannot move on,” he said.