When they see how we live in Macedonia the refugees may ask to go back, said VMRO-DPMNE Vice President Aleksandar Nikoloski, as the Zaev Government is announcing it will take up to 1,800 asylum seekers from Afghanistan.

See the potholed, dirty streets, see the poverty the Macedonian people lives in. The refugees may wish to go back, Nikoloski said.

Almost none of the nearly two million people who crossed through Macedonia during the 2015/16 migrant crisis sought asylum in the country. Only a few persons injured along the way remained in Macedonia, while the overwhelming majority continued their trip to the core EU member states.