BELGRADE (Sputnik) — The proposal to extend the emergency mode, which allows to involve the army in control of the borders was made due to the government forecast that the pressure of refugees on the border with Greece and Serbia will continue, according to Macedonian Interior Minister Mitko Cavkov.
"The information we possess suggests that the number of illegal migrants using the so-called Balkan route will not diminish in the foreseeable future," Cavkov said, as cited by the 24vesti media outlet.
Macedonia is one of the countries hardest-hit by the migrant crisis currently raging in Europe as hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants, mainly from the Middle East and North Africa, are making there way to the bloc, fleeing violence and poverty in their home countries. Macedonian police has said that more than 83,000 have transited through the small Balkan nation in the last three months.
On August 20, Macedonia declared a state of emergency over the crisis with refugees who pass through the country in a bid to reach more prosperous EU member states as their final destination.
