The European Commission on Monday decided to grant an additional 10 million euros to Bosnia and Herzegovina to help the country's efforts to deal with the pressure of illegal migrants.

The EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina said in a press release today that the Commission decided “to allocate €10 million of additional funds to support Bosnia and Herzegovina addressing the increased presence of migrants and refugees.”

“This additional allocation brings the total EU funding for migration to Bosnia and Herzegovina to €34 million since the beginning of 2018.”

The funds will be mainly used to set up additional temporary reception centres and provide basic services and protection, including food and accommodation, access to water sanitation and hygiene.

“Nearly 36,000 refugees and migrants entered Bosnia and Herzegovina since January 2018, according to official estimates,” the Sarajevo-based Delegation says.

“Approximately 7,400 refugees and migrants in need of assistance are currently present in the country, mostly in the Una-Sana Canton. Approximately 4,100 are accommodated in EU-funded temporary reception centres.”

Bosnia and Herzegovina's border police chief Zoran Galic said on Monday the problems stemming from migratory pressure within Bosnia and Herzegovina could be resolved with existing material and technical capacities and personnel and that the country's border police required urgent financial support to procure sophisticated special equipment and in personnel from other police units in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He explained that the border police are short of 375 officers for regular tasks, however, in order to efficiently protect the borders with Serbia and Montenegro, which stretch for 600 kilometres, it needs at least an additional 1,000 police officers.