"Nearly 40,000 asylum seekers in Serbia"

"Nearly 40,000 asylum seekers in Serbia"

In the same period, 20,725 persons were prevented from crossing the border illegally, and minor offence proceedings were launched against some of them, said Stefanovic in reply to MP questions at the Serbian parliament.

Although Serbia is only a transit country for migrants, “Europe is on the Serbian borders” he said, adding that the EU sees Serbia as a partner that can help resolve the issue of illegal migrations.

Stefanovic said that the costs of providing accommodation to migrants have not been calculated yet, and that there are indications that an even more massive inflow of migrants is yet to come.

He stressed that he is very proud of the UNHCR report on the behavior of Serbian authorities and services towards asylum-seekers, which underlines the fact that only a small number of incidents were recorded.

The Serbians invite asylum-seekers into their homes, they give them food and water, provide decent accommodation, and extend a friendly hand, said Stefanovic.

Many of the migrants are refugees from war-torn countries but many are seeking to come for economic reasons, said Stefanovic, stressing that this is a problem that Europe needs to address.