The Balkan migrant route must remain shut, it was concluded yesterday at the summit on migration along the Balkan route in Vienna, which brought together prime ministers from nine countries, including Macedonia, MIA reported from the Austrian capital.

According to Austria’s Chancellor Christian Kern, who hosted the event, three key points had been agreed during the summit, i.e. strengthening and full protection of the EU’s external borders, full implementation of the EU-Turkey deal and the adoption of an identical agreement, like the one between the Union and Turkey, with African countries, including Mali, Senegal, Egypt, and other sources of illegal migration.

All the countries represented at the summit have presented their positions, according to Macedonian PM Emil Dimitriev. Macedonia, he said, has clearly noted that it expects a clear and precise agreement to be made by the EU countries, which will be implemented by the country since it aspires to join the EU.

“The Republic of Macedonia is simply part of the solution to the (migrant) crisis, because it is part of the Balkan route. I expect the EU to do its best in terms of prevention of another influx and also in terms of its communications with Turkey and those countries that are considered potential source of migration. If there a surge of migrants, we (Macedonia) will act accordingly”.

He said he told the summit that Macedonia was expecting its institutions, namely the army and police, to be financially supported while tackling the migrant crisis at home.

“Financial aid for Macedonia is absolutely necessary. All of our activities so far have been carried out with funds from our budget, and the costs have burdened the budget. I urged support to be approved swiftly and to be proportional to the costs already made and to be addressed to the governmental institutions and NGOs at the forefront of this crisis,” Dimitriev stated.

The Premier said up to 200 illegal attempts to cross the border were thwarted in Macedonia on daily basis. “This means that migrants are still crossing borders and in the future we must focus more and launch better actions, not only the EU candidate countries, but also the EU members,” noted Dimitriev.

Speaking at the summit, PM Dimitriev urged clear policy to be established instead of ‘tossing the issue from one border to another’.

“Whether it is going to be a policy of readmission, i.e. return of the migrants to the countries they came from, or a policy of prevention, it is up to the key EU members to decide,” the Macedonian PM stressed.