Hungary on Wednesday said that it is to build a 4m fence on its border with Serbia to keep out migrants, while the EU struggles to deal with a massive influx of people trying to reach Europe.
Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said he was “surprised and shocked” by the plan.
“We will discuss this decision with our Hungarian colleagues,” he added.
“Building walls is not the solution. Serbia cannot be responsible for the situation created by the migrants; we are just a transit country. Is Serbia responsible for the crisis in Syria?” Vucic said on state television.
Hungary’s announcement came as Pope Francis hit out at nations that “close the door” to those seeking a safe haven from war, poverty and persecution.
Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter Szijjarto said the government had ordered work to start on the barrier along the length of its 175km border with Serbia.
“Preparation work for the fence should be completed by next Wednesday,” he said.
“This decision does not break any international treaty; other countries have opted for the same solution,” he added, citing similar barriers on the Greek-Turkish and Bulgarian-Turkish frontiers and around Spanish exclaves in Morocco.
Last year, Hungary received more refugees per capita than any other EU country apart from Sweden, recording 43,000 arrivals in total.
So far this year, about 54,000 refugees have entered Hungary, according to government figures, a sharp rise from the 2,000 who arrived in 2012.
EU member Hungary is in the passport-free Schengen zone. Once inside Hungary, migrants can travel easily in the 26-nation zone.
Hungary says that about 95 percent of the migrants to have entered the country so far this year came through Serbia, which is not yet a member of the EU.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has taken steps over immigration, including a poster campaign with slogans such as: “If you come to Hungary, you cannot take Hungarians’ jobs.”
Serbian Minister of the Interior Nebojsa Stefanovic called on Bulgaria and Greece — both EU members — to “make more of an effort” to stop migrants entering the former Yugoslav republic.
More than 100,000 migrants have arrived in Europe this year, 60,000 through Italy alone, according to the EU’s border agency Frontex.
Szijjarto said that with EU efforts toward a satisfactory joint approach proving to be “long and time-consuming,” Hungary “cannot afford to wait any longer.”
On Tuesday, European interior ministers failed to come to a decision on European Commission proposals to redistribute 40,000 Syrians and Eritreans who have arrived in Europe, and to resettle 20,000 Syrians living in camps outside Europe.
“We have made progress today, but we are not there yet,” EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said after the talks.
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