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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Single asylum policy at EU level necessary

Belgrade/Berlin, 26 August 2015

Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic expressed his expectations that the two-day conference on the Western Balkans, which starts today in Vienna, will lead to progress in resolving the problems of refugees, as well as in the field of regional integration.

Single asylum policy at EU level necessary

Vucic said in an interview with the German newspaper "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" that the conference in the capital of Austria will be attended by representatives of the governments of all the countries of the Western Balkans, EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, as well as officials of Austria, France, Italy and Germany.

The Prime Minister pointed to the decisive role of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as the most important European leader at this meeting.

Speaking about refugees from the Middle East, he said that Serbia is not asking for money from the EU, but for a comprehensive, single pan-European solution to the problem between Brussels and countries that are not EU members.

We are a poor country and those people do not want to stay in Serbia, but go to the EU, Vucic said and underlined that he supports the five-point plan prepared by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria Sebastian Kurz.

That plan, he explained, envisages assistance to the countries of the Western Balkans, and that Europe reaches an agreement on a single asylum policy that would set a binding reception quota.

According to Vucic, the number of migrants in Serbia is growing and up to 3,000 new refugees are registered every day, and the problems that winter will bring must not be ignored.

Speaking about the economic situation in Serbia, Vucic pointed out that a shift has been made and that the cuts in pensions and salaries of civil servants are painful, but profitable.

He stressed that in the current year, the Serbian budget deficit is below the Maastricht criteria and that the IMF has revised several times its expectations on Serbia’s growth to a higher grade. German investors also notice this, the Prime Minister stated and recalled that German companies employ a total of 30,000 people in Serbia, and that Germany, along with Italy, is our most important economic partner.

Vucic said that the accession negotiations with the EU are not going as fast as Serbia would like, but reiterated his expectation that the first two chapters will be opened very soon.