Western Balkans 'not a parking lot for refugees': EU

(SKOPJE) - A top EU official said Friday that Balkan nations were not a "parking lot" for migrants and pledged to fully defend their interests.

"You are not a parking lot for refugees, you are also victims of the situation and we won't leave you," European Union Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn told the Macedonian parliament.

"All the countries of the EU are targets of the refugee stream and have the task to protect the external borders," he said.

Hahn said the EU was "fully committed to defend you (Macedonia), but also Serbia and other countries from the Western Balkans."

His comments on Europe's worst migrant crisis in 50 years came as new figures showed the European Union had received almost a quarter of a million asylum requests in the three months to June.

Tens of thousands of migrants have been pouring into Balkan countries in a bid to cross into the EU's visa-free travel zone and go on to Germany, which has opened its doors to Syrian refugees.