Presidency member: Bosnia has become a hotspot for migrants

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Bosnia and Herzegovina may be destabilised in terms of security and politically if the migrants who are trying to reach the European union stay in the country, Croat member of Bosnia's tripartite Presidency Dragan Covic told a daily.

The Presidency member said the number of migrants in Bosnia is still not dramatic but that the country has become a hotspot for illegal migrants, which the security agencies already confirmed.

According to him, there is no agreement in the country on this matter.

“We suggested a few steps in the talks with competent institutions. The first one is the immediate closing of borders. The second one is reducing the asylum request procedure from 14 days to 24 hours,” Covic told the Bosnian issue of Croatia-based daily newspaper Vecernji list.

The Presidency member warned that the 14-day deadline is used to “prepare the terrain for the transport over the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina because the migrants are managed from the far away.”

According to the Bosnia's Service for Foreigners’ Affairs, since the start of the year, 8,930 illegal migrants have arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A vast majority of them have expressed their intention to formally request asylum but a few have done so.