Migrants (Photo: AP / Cedar Attanasio)
The assistant interior minister of Serbia, Zoran Lazarov, dismissed the claims on April 22, of the leader of the Dveri (Doors) Movement, Bosko Obradovic, about Serbia being made into a center for asylum seekers, adding that "no migrant has ever been returned from Austria" to Serbia.
Claiming that there was no agreement with Austria about the returning of migrants who had been denied asylum, Lazarov said that Serbia signed the re-admission agreement with the EU in 2007 and, on the basis of that, a separate protocol with Austria in 2010, which defines the re-admission procedure and, in 2019, the working arrangement that defines the technical implementation of re-admission in more detail.
"The mentioned working arrangement clearly defines that, in each individual case, Austria must first prove beyond doubt that a migrant from a third country entered their country from Serbia, and then Serbia has to give approval for their re-admission," Lazarov said, as quoted by the Interior Ministry.
He added that no migrant had been returned from Austria to Serbia to this day, on the basis of either the re-admission agreement, the separate protocol or the working arrangement.
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