What President Klaus Iohannis said?
Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia will be ready to close their borders to migrants if Germany and Austria do the same, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko said on Saturday, novinite.com reports.
“We won’t expose our countries to the devastating pressure of the millions [of people] who would come”, Borisov said after a meeting in Sofia with the Prime ministers of Serbia and Romania. “We won’t let our countries become buffer zones.”
“Huge waves of refugees go to our neighbours in Serbia via Greece and Macedonia. If Germany, Austria and other countries close their borders, our three countries are standing ready to close ours in the same way.”
Borisov highlighted concerns over the “lack of a final strategic goal” in addressing the unprecedented migrant influx into Europe and called for support for EU’s recent agreement with Ankara to keep millions of refugees within Turkey’s borders.
“How far will this wave go, where will these refugees work, how will they be integrated, where will their children study?” Borisov said.
The three prime ministers met a day ahead of a planned meeting of European leaders on refugee flows along the Western Balkan route in Brussels on Sunday. The meeting was called by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who has been urging a coordinated response to the worst migration crisis in Europe since the end of World War Two.
Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia are among the countries which migrants and refugees cross on their journey from Turkey to northern Europe.
“The countries along the Western Balkans route have been particularly exposed to these pressures,” Juncker said in a statement on Friday.
“I thank Prime Minister Boyko Borisov for the invitation, the date of today’s meeting has been chosen very well because we’ll discuss the issues in Brussels tomorrow,” Serbia’s Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said.
Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania must act together, in solidarity with Europe and demand solidarity from the other European countries to better manage the refugee crisis, Vucic said.
He added that Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta has offered help in enforcing controls along his country’s border with Serbia.
In his turn, PM Victor Ponta said at the end of the meeting with his Bulgarian and Serbian counterpart that the three countries’ intention to close their borders if Germany and Austria close theirs will be their position at the Sunday’s summit in Brussels, which brings together the leaders of non-EU Macedonia and Serbia plus eight EU countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania and Slovenia.
President Iohannis: Ponta didn’t consult with me, he just took a walk in Sofia
While in Arad on Sunday before leaving for Brussels to take part in the meeting on migration called by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, President Klaus Iohannis said that the prime ministerd hadn’t consulted with him before his statements made together with the Bulgarian and Serbain PMs.
“Mr. prime minister hasn’t consulted with me, just took a walk to Sofia, met other prime ministers. It’s an interesting topic as a weekend preoccupation. Mr. Ponta had no mandate to engage Romania in any way. These statements he made are totally disengaging to me,” Klaus Iohannis stated.
Asked if he will talk to PM Ponta on his statements in Sofia, the Romanian president: “Yes, of course! I will have a discussion in this topic after I get back from Brussels.”
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called on Wednesday an extraordinary meeting of several European leaders on Sunday to tackle the refugee emergency in the western Balkans.
The Commission said in a statement on Wednesday that Juncker had invited the heads of state or government of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.
The October 25 meeting, followed by a working dinner, would also include the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, the European Asylum Support Office and EU border agency Frontex, the statement said.
Juncker wants decisions on Balkan refugee crisis on Sunday
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker aims to get a group of EU leaders attending a summit on Sunday to agree short-term steps to tackle the migrant crisis in the western Balkans, Mediafax informs, quoting Reuters.
Juncker has summoned European Union leaders from the region and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, which is taking in more refugees than any other EU state, for talks on Sunday.
“They will discuss urgently needed, common operative answers to the current humanitarian demands and decide on short-term measures,” Juncker told German media group Funke, adding closer cooperation was needed to master the crisis.
German media have reported that Juncker will present a 16-point plan, including an undertaking not to send migrants from one country to another without prior agreement.
photo: novinite.com