Pusić: Only one refugee has requested asylum

(Hina) - Already 13,500 refugees have entered Croatia so far, which is the highest number of migrants in such a short time to enter a country, but everything is under control and the state can handle it, Foreign Minister Vesna Pusić said on Friday

(Hina) - Already 13,500 refugees have entered Croatia so far, which is the highest number of migrants in such a short time to enter a country, but everything is under control  and the state can handle it, Foreign Minister Vesna Pusić said on Friday, adding that of all the refugees, only one, a woman, had requested asylum in Croatia.

If the refugees continue to arrive at such a pace, Croatia will need help in administrative registration, she told reporters.

Pusić said there was a lot of talk about the security aspect of the refugee wave and possible terrorism, stressing that "terrorists don't travel across the Mediterranean in leaky boats but in planes" and that "this is an attempt to scare people and no terrorist will risk drowning."

"Crossing the border has slowed down in part because border crossings have been closed, in part because we are in contact with our colleagues in Serbia. The amount of people that were brought and directed to Croatia was such that at one point a thousand people per hour arrived. Given the recording rules, it was no longer possible to process so many people," Pusić said.

She said her ministry was in contact with the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, her European counterparts and those outside Europe to see how much Croatia could be helped. Pusić said she talked about the possibility of providing for migrants with her counterpart in New Zealand and that she would soon do so with those in Canada, Australia and the US.

Pusić said it was true that Slovenia was returning a certain number of people to Croatia but that some did manage to enter Slovenia. "There will be various discussions and difficulties about this. We'll have to make a decision together with our Austrian and German colleagues because absolutely everyone, except one woman with children who requested asylum in Croatia, wants to go to Germany and I will discuss this with my German counterpart this afternoon."

She said that after this crisis, the EU would have to sit down and agree joint mechanisms, redefine common and individual policies and external border control, and agree a model of crisis management.

Pusić said Croatia had responded well to the refugee wave and that no country had been this ready. "Croatia responded to this situation without roughness or human rights violations, while it took some other countries months or years from the moment the first refugees started arriving. We have absolutely passed the test."

Sisak County head Ivo Žinić said the 51 men from Syria and other Arab countries accommodated in a reception centre in Viktorovac, a former army barracks in Sisak, were being identified and that none had requested asylum in Croatia.

One group of migrants without ID will be returned to Turkey via Serbia, while the rest said they wanted to go to Germany and Scandinavia, he told reporters, adding that most of the migrants at Viktorovac were young and that among them were doctors and engineers.

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