Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Michael Davenport said that he had no information regarding the closure of borders for refugees by certain countries and that such claims were not confirmed.
Today, Ambassador Davenport visited Collective Centre for temporary reception and housing of refugees in Presevo and said that in critical times, governments had the responsibility to uphold international standards in helping refugees, but added that governments were also responsible to ensure safety of their citizens.
He said that the refugees and safety would be discussed among EU Interior Ministers in European Council on Friday.
He said that the reason for his visit to the Collective Centre in Presevo was his desire to get to know the needs of this Centre in order to make its work more efficient.
Asked about the amount of money the EU had allocated to support Serbia in coping with refugee crisis, Davenport said that in June, when the crisis broke out, EU allocated two million euros to support Serbia and FYR Macedonia in their efforts.
“The allocation in the second phase came from the European PROGRES Programme, and amounted to EUR300,000. Also, assistance package has been signed, worth EUR7 million, that came straight from the European Commission,” said Davenport and added that another package worth EUR7 million was allocated and aimed at NGOs engaged in helping refugees.
EU Ambassador then explained that the EU would use the IPA money to reconstruct reception centres in Serbia but still waited for Serbian Government to point to exact locations to which the money should be referred to.
Head of Coordinating Authority for South Serbia Zoran Stankovic said that due to high number of refugees arriving to Presevo every day, citizens of Presevo had trouble in their day-to-day functioning, but added that no incident had been recorded thus far.
