BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) – Balkan countries and the European Union on Thursday criticized Hungary’s plans to build a fence along the border with Serbia to stop the flow of migrants reaching the country.
Serbia’s prime minister, Aleksandar Vucic, said he was “shocked and surprised” by the project that could isolate his country.
Vucic said “walls and fences” weren’t a solution for the crisis that has seen tens of thousands of migrants from the Middle East and Africa crossing the western Balkans, trying to reach the European Union as they flee wars and poverty in their home countries.
Announcing the plans, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said Wednesday the 4-meter-high (13-foot-high) fence along the 175-kilometer (110-mile) southern border with Serbia wouldn’t contravene any of Hungary’s international legal obligations.
The plan leaves a bitter taste in Serbia whose leadership is keen to become part of the EU rather than isolated from it.