Brussels summit produced ideas, not concrete tasks - PM

Brussels summit produced ideas, not concrete tasks - PM

"We wanted to hear also what they expect Serbia to do if Germany and Austria close their borders, should Serbia become a 'protective zone', we talked about it the day before in Bulgaria. I'm not sure that we will make a conclusion about something that would be very useful right now, but I'm sure that we understand each other and that we will be able to take action together in the future, and that we will be able to overcome all the quarrels, problems, shifting the blame," Vucic said, describing of "the essence of the meeting" in Brussels.

As he pointed out, "the key things are to strengthen the EU Schengen borders, and the transfer of migrants from one country to another."

"I asked," said Vucic, "the important question of what we all can do and said that if, say, Croatia were to permanently accept 2,500 refugees, in accordance with the size of its population Serbia can accept 3,000 - but the question is, what if these people do not want to stay in our countries. "

"Are we going to shove them in jail? I suppose that we will not and this is the issue," he added.

Vucic "reiterated that Serbia will not build walls and fences" and will instead "endeavor that a comprehensive European solution is found, because that (fences) can help two or three countries, and is not any kind of a comprehensive solution."

"We talked about the proposal of solutions presented by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, and there's nothing there that we should do that's problematic."

Vucic pointed out that the discussion in Brussels on Sunday was "useful" and that he was "sure we will all be able to achieve some results in the coming weeks and months - but it is clear that this crisis cannot be solved in a few weeks or months, but will improve step by step. "

He noted that Serbia, for its part, "has not sought any assistance from the European Union."

Buffer zone

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has said that Serbia will do everything to treat migrants humanely, but it will not accept becoming a buffer zone for stranded migrants.

When asked by reporters, during a break in a mini summit of EU and Balkan countries' leaders, called by the European Commission president to discuss the migrant crisis in Brussels on Sunday, what Serbia would do if Germany and Austria closed their borders to migrants and Croatia set up a fence, Vucic said:

"What do you expect us to do - to be a buffer zone?"

Asked what he specifically meant when he said that Serbia would take part of the burden of accepting migrants and whether some demands with respect to that had been put before Serbia during the meeting, Vucic said that "nothing specific has been asked of Serbia."