Serbia says it is willing to host refugees

Zagreb, Sep 1 (IANS/EFE) Serbia is willing to receive a number of refugees permanently, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic announced on Tuesday, a media report said.

Serbian portal Blic quoted Vucic as saying his country was more European than others, as they do not build fences, alluding to the wire fence erected by the Hungarian government on the border with Serbia.

He did not specify the exact figure of the refugees his eastern European country was willing to accommodate.

Vucic also criticised the slowness with which Europe is facing the refugee crisis without adopting a strategy to deal with this problem.

He said that although Serbia is not yet a member of the European Union it aims to become one, and they are ready to assume their share of responsibility.

Since early this year, Serbian authorities have recorded more than 90,000 people, mostly refugees that have been in and out of Serbia. Most are citizens of Syria and Afghanistan fleeing armed conflicts in their countries and seeking to obtain asylum in western EU countries.

Only 500 of them have sought asylum in Serbia, which in turn has approved only 15 percent of applicants.