Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic on Tuesday called on Serbia to "tone down its voice a bit" after Serbia's Prime Minister said that Croatia should re-open the Bajakovo border crossings or Belgrade would resort to counter-measures or seek international protection.
"Since the first day (of the refugee crisis), I have refrained from criticizing Serbia as refugees have been passing through that country for a year. Everyone is allowing them, countries mightier and great such as Germany have let them. Countries that are the least jeopardized such as Hungary are making a fuss. ... I cannot criticise Serbia but I can urge it to soften its tone and ... send some of the refugees to Hungary, some to Romania and to Croatia. We will also do the same and tomorrow in Brussels (but Vucic will not be present there), we will discuss this matter and how to solve the problem there where it begins, in Turkey and Greece," Milanovic said on Tuesday morning.
He went on to say that Croatia was conducting the talks in a normal and constructive and civilised tone with those who are hardest hit, Austria and Germany and even Slovenia.
Milanovic said that Croatia could take in thousands of people and would do it corridor-wise. "We cannot and will not accept 20,000 people in only just two days, which Serbia and Hungary did not this past year. These were much lower numbers, or in the case of higher numbers this was in a longer span of time," Milanovic added.
(Hina)
News
