Croat PM says Serbia is "cutting off branch it's sitting on"

Croat PM says Serbia is "cutting off branch it's sitting on"

Ahead of Serbia's blockade that took force at midnight, Milanovic was quoted as saying, "Perhaps I'll open the border soon, and then I'll close it again if 8,000 or 10,000 people (migrants) cross."

On Thursday, Milanovic told reporters: "I said we would open the border and monitor what is going on. At midnight, the Serbian government brings a package of measures. That was not the deal with the EU, High Representative Federica Mogherini told me this herself."

According to Milanovic, "the whole situation can be resolved immediately."

"All the Serbian government has to do is control the movement of refugees. They must stop the pressure on Croatia. Yesterday we received 9,000 refugees, that's a lot. We can receive 4,000 or 5,000 people a day. Serbia must organize that and I offered (Aleksandar) Vucic my help," said the Croatian prime minister.

He added that Croatia's blockade of the border, that stopped all cargo traffic coming from Serbia, was introduced "because Serbia has been sending refugees (from third countries) only to Croatia, in an organized manner, in agreement with Hungary."

"I will not allow fools to play us and send everyone to Croatia, that's my message," said Milanovic.

He added he "on several occasions asked from Serbia, but also from PM Aleksandar Vucic, to stop such an intensive influx of refugees toward Croatia."

Milanovic accused Serbia of letting refugees "wander around the country unorganized - but only until they gather in the north (Serbia's border with Hungary) - and then it sends them to the Croatian border in an organized manner."

According to him, this is done "by the Serb Office for Refugees."

Milanovic reiterated that "all Serbia has to do is stop such an intensive influx of refugees to Croatia."

"That's so little. Let them explain to their own citizens why they won't do it? All your prime minister has to do is stop such an intensive influx of refugees. We cannot receive 9,000 refugees in one day, but: 4,000 up to 5,000 we could. If he has some business arrangement outside of Croatia, Vucic should say it. But I don't have one," said Milanovic, who repeated several times he was making these statements "in order to inform Serbian public about Croatia's position."

His next message to Serbia was to "set up refugee camps, like Croatia did, or to send some of those people to the north, to the border with Hungary."

"Belgrade and Budapest are playing in tandem, and I think they are completely lonely in that," said Croatia's prime minister, adding that "not a word was said yesterday in Brussels about the Croatian-Serbian border."

He wondered "how come Serbian authorities introduced countermeasures toward Croatia at midnight, even though he said in Brussels on Wednesday that Croatia would temporarily withdraw its ban on the entry of trucks."

Milanovic stressed that Croatia's measure was "not directed against Serbian trucks - but against all trucks, including Croatian ones" - whereas Serbia's response targets exclusively Croatian trucks and goods.

According to him, this harms Croatian companies doing business in Serbia "that are Serb firms with Serb managers."

"This harms Serbia, they are cutting off the branch they are sitting on," said Milanovic.