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Balkan route for migrants closed from March 9: Serbia

Xinhua, March 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

Serbia will copy Slovenia's decision to allow only migrants with valid passports and visas to enter its territory from midnight, Serbian interior ministry said in a press release on Tuesday.

According to the press release, this will put an end to the route via which hundreds of thousands of migrants reached Western Europe last year.

The ministry said it was notified by Croatia that Slovenia will adopt a new policy banning migrants' free entry into the Schengen area.

"Having in mind a new regime that an European Union(EU) member state implemented, Serbia cannot allow itself to become a collection center for refugees, so it will harmonize all its measures with the EU and implement it reciprocally on its southern and eastern border, towards Macedonia and Bulgaria," reads the press release.

New measures, which will start on March 9, according to the ministry, will "practically put an end to the Balkan route", because only migrants with valid passports and visas will be allowed to pass.

More than 700,000 refugees from Syria, Africa and the Middle East passed Serbian territory last year, according to figures released by the Serbian government. Recently, Austria restricted the number of migrants allowed to enter the country to 37,500 this year, causing a chain reaction among Balkan countries, including Serbia, who introduced the same limitations to stop migrants stuck on their territory. Enditem