Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Michael Davenport said it was important to understand that EU countries would not close their borders to refugees, but were returning people not entitled to refugee status.
Ambassador Davenport said EU and countries in the region enhanced their cooperation in tackling refugee crisis compared to the period before Leaders’ Summit in Brussels couple of weeks ago.
“We keep in constant touch with Serbian Government. Just today I met with Commissioner for Refugees, and now I am on my way to meet with Minister Aleksandar Vulin,” Davenport said.
Asked about the issues European Council President Donald Tusk would discuss on Saturday with Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, Davenport said that they would discuss refugee crisis and European integration.
“Our cooperation with Serbia is very good. We have adopted a new assistance package to help Serbia cope with refugee crisis. I visited Presevo and Bujanovac on Wednesday and I was impressed with what I saw there,” Davenport said.
He said that it was a good example of international community coordination to help Serbia tackle this delicate and serious crisis.
Asked whether Serbia had, in cooperation with other European countries, made a decision to return refugees who did not originate from the war-affected areas, Ambassador Davenport said the contact was ongoing and that a video conference was held among the contact points of countries involved in the mechanism set up following the Leaders’ Summit in Brussels.
