Bosnia Ready if Migrants Change Course, Says Minister
Bosnia is ready to act in case migrants change course, its foreign minister said Monday, reflecting wider concerns about EU moves to close the current route through other Balkan states.
Speaking on a visit to Cyprus, Igor Crnadak appealed for a "united response by Europe" to the worst refugee crisis to hit the continent since World War II.
More than one million migrants and refugees have arrived in Europe since the start of 2015, many of them heading north through Macedonia and Serbia from Turkey and Greece.
EU leaders were Monday debating plans to shut that well-trodden overland corridor, leading to speculation that the migrants will simply choose another route.
One of those is from Greece to Albania and Italy via the Adriatic Sea, and another is from Greece to Albania, Montenegro and Bosnia, and then on to EU member Croatia.
"We are hoping that we will finally see a unique and united response by Europe to this issue," said Crnadak, referring to Monday's EU-Turkey migrant crisis summit in Brussels.
But he stressed that this would not be possible without the collaboration of some non-EU countries on the route, like Bosnia's neighbor Serbia.
"Bosnia-Hercegovina is following the situation very carefully," said Crnadak. "Maybe we could see a new route going through Albania, Montenegro and then entering our country."
"So we have the operational team, which is ready to intervene within 24 hours if we have influx of refugees in our territory," he said.
Preparations had been made to handle transiting migrants and to close Bosnia's border, although this has not been discussed, he said.
"Unfortunately, we are not in a position to even discuss the possibility of having them stay, but so far we have not seen such a request expressed by anybody," he added.
Speaking at the same news conference, Cyprus Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides called for EU member states to "share the burden" of refugees to be relocated from Greece and Italy.
Kasoulides also said that "economic migrants... not entitled to international protection... should go back to Turkey".
Source: Agence France Presse
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