Croatia: Normality Not Possible On Humanitarian Catastrophe Skid Row

Screenshot Euronews 23 October 2015 At the Border Between Croatia and Serbia

Screenshot Euronews 23 October 2015
At the Border Between
Croatia and Serbia

 

The flood of people shows no sign of slowing even though cold, wet and miserable weather conditions have set in. Over 250,000 refugees and migrants have passed through Croatia in past six weeks with the increasing likelihood and fear that transfer to other countries such a Slovenia to assist them in reaching their desired destination in Western Europe will not be possible. Hence, temporary accommodation places are being opened in Croatia, the latest being in Slavonski Brod (a disused building in past used for administration for INA company will be fixed quickly)  to house some 5,000, and more and more countries painfully nursing the fear that they will be left with thousands of needy people and scanty resources.

The Humanitarian catastrophe is suffocating the very breath of all and normal living is fast becoming something that was.

The refugee and migrant crisis has centered on Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia in recent days as that route to Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden …gives rise to all sorts of touching stories of human compassion but also of those of fear of the unknown and what that unknown may do to the standard of life Europeans have been used to and have not been asked if they wish to share or lower.

Crossing Into Croatia From Serbia 24 October 2015 Photo: Zeljko Lukunic/Pixsell

Crossing Into Croatia From Serbia
24 October 2015
Photo: Zeljko Lukunic/Pixsell

Last week German Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced that her government will quickly send back all those arriving at its borders who are not genuine refugees but found to be people looking for a better life – illegal migrants. Reportedly some 190,000 already in Germany for some time have been identified as those to be deported, said Croatian HRT TV news from Friday 23 October. This seems to have poured deeper panic among those fleeing Middle East through Croatia and surrounding countries as they show urgency and impatience to reach their desired destination in Western Europe (before doors close?). So we come across desperate night transfers, walking across rivers in the cold of the night to reach Slovenia, the next stop on route to Austria, toppling fences and barriers – pushing and trampling on each other … Desperation on the rise.

It is clear by now that not everyone who is crossing European (or any other for that matter) is a refugee; many are migrants coming for other reasons than fleeing from persecution. Refugees are people who have been forced out of their home country against their will. The word “migrant” can mean someone who moves to a foreign country voluntarily, or it can be used as a broader umbrella term that includes refugees as well as voluntary migrants. For example, a Syrian man fleeing war is a refugee, whereas a Cameroonian man seeking economic opportunity is a migrant. Whether someone is considered a refugee or a migrant effects what sorts of legal rights they have: Refugees can apply for asylum and are protected by international and domestic law, for example, while economic migrants cannot. There is no such thing as an “illegal asylum-seeker” — refugees can seek asylum in another country without obtaining a visa or resettlement authorization first. Economic migrants, by contrast, are usually required to have a visa or other form of work authorization in order to immigrate legally.

Walking to Brezice, Slovenia, From Croatia 23 October 2015 Photo: Reuters/Pixsell

Walking to Brezice, Slovenia,
From Croatia 23 October 2015
Photo: Reuters/Pixsell

Distinguishing between the two becomes political, especially in a crisis like the one battering the life and the peaceful spirit of Europe. Calling a group of people “refugees” also acknowledges that such people are legitimately deserving of shelter and care, whereas calling them “migrants” can more often than not result in accusing them of arriving for economic reasons, and perhaps even lying about their asylum claims in order to exploit the “Western” entitlement programs, which, by the way the “Western” citizens have earned through hard work, through paying taxes and generally having had good economic and other governance throughout the past decades. Such stands are often called anti-immigration even in the face of the fact that if a “Westerner” wanted to go, work and live in an another Western country as his own renders him/her unemployed and destitute, he/she must obtain a proper visa, which is more often than not impossible to obtain.
In recent months particularly, the UNHCR has been asking that the people crossing the Mediterranean or coming to Europe via other routes such as the one across Greece be labelled ‘refugees and migrants.’ This stance appears to be a reasonable compromise in the efforts to deal with madness that has hit an unprepared Europe (World), but is also unsettling because it insists that refugees and migrants are fundamentally (as in UN protection entitlements) different from each other.
UNHCR: “…protecting refugees was made the core mandate of the UN refugee agency, which was set up to look after refugees, specifically those waiting to return home at the end of World War II.
The 1951 Refugee Convention spells out that a refugee is someone who ‘owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.’
Since then, UNHCR has offered protection and assistance to tens of millions of refugees, finding durable solutions for many of them. Global migration patterns have become increasingly complex in modern times, involving not just refugees, but also millions of economic migrants. But refugees and migrants, even if they often travel in the same way, are fundamentally different, and for that reason are treated very differently under modern international law.
Migrants, especially economic migrants, choose to move in order to improve the future prospects of themselves and their families. Refugees have to move if they are to save their lives or preserve their freedom. They have no protection from their own state – indeed it is often their own government that is threatening to persecute them. If other countries do not let them in, and do not help them once they are in, then they may be condemning them to death – or to an intolerable life in the shadows, without sustenance and without rights.

Refugees rushing across green-belts from Croatia into Slovenia 23 October 2015

Refugees rushing across green-belts
from Croatia into Slovenia
23 October 2015

The UNHCR ‘two kinds of people’ policy is, some say, troubling on many levels. “First of all, it undermines the humanitarian principles that should guide our response to emergencies. When people drown at sea or suffocate in lorries, our first question should not be ‘so, which kind were they, refugees or migrants?’ Narratives about ‘two kinds of people,’ are, paradoxically, a central ingredient in many of the conflicts that thousands are forced to flee,” writes Jørgen Carling, Research Professor at Peace Research Institute Oslo.
The ‘two kinds of people’ argument is further undermined by the drawn-out trajectories of many current migrants. A Nigerian arriving in Italy might have left Nigeria for reasons other than a fear of persecution, but ended up fleeing extreme danger in Libya. Conversely, a Syrian might have crossed into Jordan and found safety from the war, but been prompted by the bleak prospects of indeterminate camp life to make the onward journey to Europe. Regardless of the legal status that each one obtains in Europe, they are both migrants who have made difficult decisions, who deserve our compassion, and whose rights need to be ensured”.

 

Justifiably, many will reply that rights of refugees and migrants cannot and should not be ensured at the expense or neglect of other people’s rights. Indeed, the domestic population of countries affected by this refugee and migration crisis finds itself pondering and agonising on this very truth.

 

Slovenian policemen escort a group of migrants from a train towards a camp in Sentilj, Slovenia, Friday, Oct. 23, 2015. Thousands of people are trying to reach central and northern Europe via the Balkans but often have to wait for days in mud and rain at the Serbian, Croatian and Slovenian borders. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Slovenian policemen escort a group of migrants from a train arriving from Croatia towards a camp in Sentilj, Slovenia, Friday, Oct. 23, 2015.  (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

This crisis is about millions of people who have been forced from their countries, or have made decisions to flee abject poverty, and need a new country to call home even though many do exclaim they want to return to their country once the war in their homeland stops. Addressing the crisis will require resettling the people on the run. Countries that seem capable of absorbing them, wealth-wise, are experiencing increasing unrest from their own citizens as political anxieties about large-scale immigration that come with the prospect of having to absorb so many cultural and religious strangers keep rising.
For those of who live in those countries, addressing the crisis and solving it means, at this stage, accepting that their communities will look and feel different from how they have in the past. It requires enormous sacrifice for many as they attempt adjusting their vision of how their future communities will look like and what changes will need to be made for a peaceful and respectful coexistence. This is a major “ask” of every government where floods of refugees or migrants are capturing the attention of media and authorities and yet it seems not many governments are addressing that question as equally deserving as dealing with the refugees and migrants.
There is an emergency European Union summit organized for Sunday 25 October and if it fails to produce a solution to the crisis that is acceptable particularly to the European citizens the coming weeks and months will see another crisis looming: EU states affected will likely start acting on their own with the primary aim to protect their own citizens and without a plan for expansion of refugee intake program. It’s been weeks since EU had delivered a decision to distribute refugees according to set quotas among different member states but this plan, encountering opposition in several countries, has failed to launch.

Refugees and migrants Dobova, Slovenia, at Croatian border 22 October 2015 Phopto: Reuters

Refugees and migrants
Dobova, Slovenia, at Croatian border
22 October 2015
Phopto: Reuters

According to Xinhuanet news a draft for the EU emergency summit for Sunday 25 October the countries on the so-called Balkan migratory route (which includes Croatia) would no longer be allowed to transport refugees to neighboring borders without prior agreement with their neighbours. Such a motion is likely to be defeated but if it’s not it will cause enormous unrest in Europe and lead to life-threatening, highly-charged with anger and hatred instability for all: refugees, migrants as well as the domestic population. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)

Migrant Crisis In Croatia Widens Political Rift – Plans For Coup d’état Suspected

Refugees enter Croatia at the Serbia-Croatia border Croatian President Wants to Close these illegal border crossings and keep official ones open The Government opposes this Photo: EPA/Antonio Bat

Refugees enter Croatia
at the Serbia-Croatia border
Croatian President Wants to
Close these illegal border crossings
and keep official ones open
The Government opposes this
Photo: EPA/Antonio Bat

More than 190,000 refugees and migrants have crossed into Croatia over the past month and assisted to cross over Hungary to richer European countries (383,000 have crossed Hungary so far this year). At midnight Friday 16 October Hungary sealed its border with Croatia and, hence, refugees making their way to Hungary from Croatia can no longer contemplate that route. Hungary’s government declared its southern frontier with Croatia off limits to migrants, blocking entry with a metal fence and razor wire, as well as soldiers and police, just as it did a month ago on its border with Serbia.

Hungarian soldiers seal off border with Croatia 16 October 2015 Photo: Reuters/Antonio Bronic

Hungarian soldiers seal off
border with Croatia
16 October 2015
Photo: Reuters/Antonio Bronic

The UN refugee agency said people were being denied their right to protection under international conventions by Hungary’s actions. Hungary declared it is duty-bound to secure the borders of the European Union from mainly Muslim migrants threatening, it said, the prosperity, security and “Christian values” of Europe.
As Hungary sealed its borders with Croatia panic rose within Croatia that it would not be able to cope with or sustain such a large and incessant influx of migrants without a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding. The Croatian minister for internal affairs Ranko Ostojic was swift in his lame attempt to quell fears and panic within Croatia and announced that his government would immediately put in place their Plan C. However, outrage poured as he failed to reveal what the Plan C entails, although it became clear quite quickly that the refugees and migrants routed to Western Europe via Hungary would now be routed through Slovenia. Minister Ostojic said the government would continue ferrying migrants across the country by bus and train as long as Slovenia, Austria and Germany kept their borders open. Without Slovenia or Hungary keeping their borders open the refugees have no way of reaching Austria or Germany by land on that route, though.

 

Migrants and refugees crossing the town of Cakovec, Croatia Saturday 17 October to reach Slovenia

Migrants and refugees
crossing the town of Cakovec, Croatia
Saturday 17 October to reach
Slovenia

Slovenia said migrants would be registered at two border crossings where camps had the capacity of receiving some 8,000 people before continuing their journey to Austria and Germany, the preferred destination of the vast majority, many of them Syrians fleeing war. However, nervousness that Slovenia may follow Hungary’s example in applying strict Schengen border rules and seal off its border with Croatia inflamed the spirits and fears in Croatia. Hungary said it had reinstated border controls on its frontier with Slovenia, effectively suspending Europe’s Schengen system of passport-free travel though it. Both Slovenia and Hungary are part of the Schengen Area while Croatia is not. Slovenia, a small country of 2 million people, says it will allow in as many migrants as it is able to register and accommodate and put the army on standby to aid the effort. But, if the influx continues as it has been, Slovenia would suffocate under pressure of possible hundreds of thousands of migrants and most likely make the move to seal its borders with Croatia.

Syrian migrants in camp Opatovac in Croatia - Saturday 17 October 2015 Photo: Reuters/Marko Durica

Syrian migrants in camp Opatovac
in Croatia – Saturday 17 October 2015
Photo: Reuters/Marko Durica

If such a thing occurred the refugees and migrants reaching Croatia would literally become “trapped” within Croatia with nowhere to go for indefinite lengths of time. With poverty and welfare dependency already at a critical level in Croatia one can fully understand the panic and anger setting in among the population even though the refugees have enjoyed a welcoming, caring and humanitarian reception there so far.

Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic

Croatian President
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic

This backdrop of realistic fear and panic, in a small and economically challenged country such as Croatia is, has given rise to a greater than expected political and governance crisis with President Grabar-Kitarovic accusing the government of failing to govern and protect the country. “The technical government is not capable of leading the country and allowing me to utilise my executive powers. I shall do that as soon as the Constitution permits me,” stated Grabar-Kitarovic on Saturday 17 October on her Facebook status while on a visit to China, which raised enormous interest and debate in Croatia. Croatia’s president has demanded strict control over the country’s border with Serbia after Hungary closed its own border with Croatia to migrants hoping to reach Western Europe. Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic late Friday urged the government to direct all migrant traffic to official border crossings rather than allow them to enter through illegal routes but her leadership is constantly undermined by the Social Democrat led government’s incessant, egotistic and malicious opposition to her suggestions. The general elections due 8 November certainly appear to have much to do with the government’s opposition and loathsome resistance to the President’s efforts as Social Democrats allege – scandalously and falsely – that the Presidents’ actions have everything to do with trying to make the opposition, HDZ/Croatian Democratic Union, look good and not with leading the country.

This being the case with Social Democrat train of thought and deed, and completely damaging to Croatia as a nation, the President should swiftly take over the leadership via exercising executive powers the Constitution permits, until a new government is sworn in sometime in November – but it seems there are no such powers. Perhaps they could be found if one looked deep enough? In this fast-paced and increasing migration crisis that threatens Croatia’s stability and security a great deal of damage by the irresponsible and politically maliciously inclined government can be done by the time general elections come in November and new government is sworn. But, on Sunday 18 October, President Grabar-Kitarovic stated for Croatian HRT TV that her Facebook status comment was done in irony to minister Ostojic’s outbursts when he said sarcastically that she could solve the crisis with Serbia in five minutes. She said that her statement was not an official one but a Facebook one and that she has no executive powers under the Constitution so she said “when Constitution permits her”.

Migrants and refugees at camp Opatovac Croatia Saturday 17 October 2015

Migrants and refugees at camp
Opatovac Croatia
Saturday 17 October 2015

President’s moves are not surprising,” said Zeljko Olujic, renowned Croatian lawyer and former State Attorney, “she sees things that are against the state and national interests happening in Croatia… She is the keeper of the Constitution and law in Croatia and has announced she will take measures that the Constitution permits her …as President Grabar-Kitarovic has, under the Constitution, great powers in leading the internal and foreign politics… ” He commented that foreign minister Vesna Pusic’s televised statement that the President had no such powers under the Constitution and that President’s statement regarding taking over the powers permitted her under the Constitution were insane, borders with treason and that she should resign her position.
There are speculations pointing to the possibility that by putting in place surveillance of three Constitutional court judges (Court President Jasna Omejec, Judges Slavica Banic and Marko Babic) as well as the Zagreb District Court President, Judge Ivan Turudic, Prime Minister’s Zoran Milanovic’s Social Democrat led government is preparing a coup d’état.
Some say that this story of this attack against the Constitutional Court is larger than the 1970’s  “Watergate” one and that it’s all geared up to secure another mandate of government for the Social Democrat led coalition – mostly made up of former Yugoslav communists or communist sympathisers. The attack against the Constitutional Court reportedly is associated with the alleged illegal arrest and appalling treatment of the former Dinamo Zagreb football club president Zdravko Mamic, who, within his constitutional right, has lodged with the Constitutional Court the question as to whether the new Sports Act, that came into force in August 2015, was passed in accordance with the Constitution. Mamic seeks clarification from the Constitutional Court whether the retroactive application of the so-called “Mamic clause”, within Article 13 Cl. 4 of the Act, was legitimate or whether it breached his rights under the Constitution.

 

Zoran Milanovic Current Prime Minister of Croatia Leader of Social Democratic Party

Zoran Milanovic
Current Prime Minister of Croatia
Leader of Social Democratic Party

And so, reported false opinion polls results, seeming misrepresentation of voter sentiments, and Social Democrats’ stooges keep convincing the power-hungry, gullible Zoran Milanovic that his voter popularity rating is close to and sitting on the tail of Tomislav Karamarko, HDZ opposition conservative leader. Hence, this false portrayal of his popularity seems to have catapulted the tragically misguided Prime Minister into violent, distant from the truth, verbal attacks of the opposition as well as the country’s President and the Constitutional Court – evidently thinking that by such verbal aggression and surveillance – which seems obviously designed with the hope of mounting sweeping and time-wise strategically placed arrests of Constitutional Court Judges – he will win power at the coming elections.

Tomislav Karamarko Leader of HDZ Croatian Democratic Union

Tomislav Karamarko
Leader of HDZ
Croatian Democratic Union

Croatia’s Social Democrats, the left coalition, has boarded an election campaign runaway train that evidently has no limits or qualms about the brutally vile strategies it’s taking to reach the winning outcome at the coming elections. They seem prepared to even destroy Croatia, its independence and fundamental institutions of democracy if they do not win the elections. No surprise there: their predecessors walked out of the Croatian Parliament in 1991, refusing to vote for secession from communist Yugoslavia. High time Croats woke up to these infidels of independence and democracy and voted them right out of the Parliament on 8 November. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)

Vienna Summit and Alpback Forum Fall Short In Solving Europe’s Refugees Crisis

Left to right: Croatian prime minister Zoran Milanovic, Albanian prime minister Edi Rama, German chancellor Angela Merkel and Austrian president Heinz Fischer at the Western Balkans summit in Vienna on 27 August 2015. 'Finding an EU-wide solution to the greatest movement of peoples since the second world war is an urgent priority.' Photo: Georg Hochmuth/EPA

Left to right: Croatian prime minister Zoran Milanovic,
Albanian prime minister Edi Rama, German chancellor Angela Merkel
and Austrian president Heinz Fischer
at the Western Balkans summit in Vienna on 27 August 2015.
‘Finding an EU-wide solution
to the greatest movement of peoples
since the second world war
is an urgent priority.’
Photo: Georg Hochmuth/EPA

 

I’m aware it was high-Summer hot weather on 27 August 2015 when the highest representatives of the Western Balkan countries met with some high EU officials and high representatives of some EU member countries, such as Austria, Croatia, Germany, Italy and Slovenia at the Vienna summit. Given the boiling refugee and illegal migrant crisis taking place in Europe at the same time one would have thought, despite the hot and lazy Summer weather, the grand, air-conditioned, opulence of the Viennese Hofburg would have set conditions conducive to clear and decisive thinking on solving some of the logistical issues of the refugee crisis, at least.
But, ‘nah’ – while almost all leaders, come high representatives, spoke of the crisis, mentioned it, Western Balkans countries spoke mostly of infrastructure and money.

 

The Viennese Hofburg

The Viennese Hofburg

This year’s Vienna summit is part of the Berlin Process, a five-year process marked by yearly summits in order to underline the commitment to EU-enlargement towards the Western Balkans region. The focus of the initiative is on those countries of the Western Balkans that are not yet EU-members: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. The EU-participants at the Summit are those countries, which have committed themselves to organise summit meetings: in addition to last year’s and this year’s organisers Germany and Austria, these are France and Italy. The process is also strongly supported by Slovenia and Croatia. Last year’s summit took place in Berlin on 28 August 2014 and gave important impulses for progress in the areas of regional cooperation, economy and the rule of law.
The refugee and illegal migrant crisis has through this Summit also demonstrated that the notion of EU enlargement is alive, as is regional cooperation. Although, the signal for the latter was quite weak because one could not but notice that in an enormous humanitarian crisis such as the one evolving and brewing in Europe it’s “every ‘man’ (country) for himself”!
Nevertheless, the refugee and illegal migrants crisis seems to have paved the way for the intensification of regional cooperation even if it is clear that EU enlargement is going nowhere for the foreseeable future. But even this “intensified” regional cooperation driven by the refugee crisis has its shaky foundations in mixed and confusing messages from different countries suggesting priorities are still individualised and far away from a collaborative, solidarity-filled, unified milieu in which one inevitably finds a certain consensus as to how to move forward.
Serbian Prime Minister Vucic said that he did not consider the EU to be like an ATM (to milk money from) but rather as an organisation with which Serbia shared common values. Alas, Vucic made sure he placed Serbia at a higher value to EU countries because of the “praiseworthy” (he said) way Serbia is treating the refugees! He said (almost repulsively alluding to Hungary) Serbia would not be building fences to keep refugees out.
No, Serbia isn’t building walls and fences to keep refugees out, it simply fails to deliver its international obligation as a sovereign country in ensuring that refugees and illegal migrants do not head, stampede on perilous journeys towards Schengen countries without firstly being processed. Serbia contributes nothing to the refugee and illegal migrant crisis, it panders to their destination preferences even though majority have not been processed nor identified as being entitled to refugee status.
Unlike Serbia’s Aleksnadar Vucic, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama suggested that it is money from the EU he is after and consequently funds are on the way for the building of highway linking Albania, Kosovo and Serbia. Either way, both Prime Ministers emphasised the need to support infrastructure but I am not convinced that it’s EU that should bear the brunt and the costs of this refugee and illegal migrant crisis just because the refugees say the words to this effect: “we are going to EU, to Germany and will get there one way or another”! Clearly, the UN as the worldwide organization has failed by doing nothing much so far to bring order to this situation dangerously running amuck. Politics are taking centre stage while people in need of help suffer.

The burning issue of refugee and illegal migrants dominated the Vienna Summit. This is the problem the EU and the Balkan leaders face. Tens of thousands of people crossing the border from EU member Greece and entering Macedonia, which is not a member of EU. They’re taken to Serbia’s border and swiftly cross Serbia to the Hungarian border with the help of Serbia’s authorities. Then they reach Hungary, which is busy building a fence on the border with Serbia and, inside, busy refusing or slowing down the process for refugees moving towards the border with Austria. At the Vienna Summit Serbia’s foreign minister Ivica Dacic told the EU it was making “unrealistic demands”. “EU, you have a problem and you’re asking us, Serbia, to come up with an action plan for migrants. You should come up with an action plan first and then ask us to come up with our plan. I have to be completely open with you on this issue because we are friends”, said Dacic.

Trust a Serb foreign minister to say EU has a problem because the refugees already in Serbia say they want to go to EU! To my way of seeing things, Serbia has a problem and it’s politically twisting the issue to suit its agenda. I had always thought that the central matter for refugees is reaching safety! Choice of where that safety shall occur is a minor issue. Serbia is safe for them, so why does Serbia – and Macedonia – for that matter, not act as “grown-ups” and turn to the UN for solutions and problems rather than the EU? The EU countries are showing differing levels of willingness to help but they too, like the refugees, have a right of seeking safety and that safety, in this case, can only come by processing those who say they are refugees but, really, one doesn’t know that until checks are made. In the meantime food, shelter, health care, roof over the head, clothing are priorities for all. The likelihood is that great majority are legitimate refugees from war areas so one must tread with utmost sensitivity and humanity.

EU leaders agreed in Vienna that a new policy is needed. Germany’s foreign minister, Frank Walter-Steinmeier, noted that some EU member states refused to take more migrants. “You all know that there is a number of EU members who are against it. But I’m sure that without a fair distribution we risk the acceptance in those countries which are currently having to take in the majority of the migrants…“ Germany’s Angela Merkel has opened the doors for the refugees without limiting numbers; she says Germany can cope.
Macedonia’s foreign minister Nikola Popovski expressed the hope that the Vienna conference will lead to what he called a European solution to the problem. Many of the observers, says Deutsche Welle, are pessimistic that these talks will produce a breakthrough.

Ahead of the Summit, the European Commission released an additional €1.5 million in humanitarian funding to assist refugees and migrants in Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The aid will support humanitarian partners in helping with the provision of basic emergency services such as drinking water, hygiene, health care, shelter, and protection for refugees and migrants, improvement of the reception centres, and coordination and reporting on migration issues in the region. Christos Stylianides, EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, said: “The Western Balkans are dealing with an unprecedented number of transiting refugees and migrants. The EU is stepping up its humanitarian aid to provide them with urgently needed relief. This is European solidarity at its core”.
The European Commission has previously granted over €90 000 in EU humanitarian assistance to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (on July 31 2015) and €150 000 to Serbia (on August 20, 2015) in response to this emergency situation. The funding went directly to the national Red Cross Societies of the two countries. Overall EU humanitarian aid to support vulnerable refugees and migrants in Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia now amounts to €1.74 million. And Serbia’s foreign minister Dacic still complaints while his Prime Minister Vucic ascribes all the “accolades” for refugee care to Serbia even if EU funds it! Very unfair!

Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said that Croatia would gladly take its share of refugees as suggested by the EU distribution policy being developed. However, an action plan for this isn’t yet visible from Croatian government even though there are some buildings being prepared for that from EU funds. On the other hand, Croatia’s president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic believes that refugee quotas for countries to take in should not be “imposed by Brussels but indicated by countries themselves”.

I would also say that Brussels shouldn’t bear the burden but neither should individual countries – it should be UN at the helm and all countries to fall in with help.

From left: Austria president Heinz Fischer Sloveina president Borut Pahor and Croatia president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic at European Alpback Forum end of August 2015

From left: Austria president Heinz Fischer
Sloveina president Borut Pahor and
Croatia president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic
at European Alpback Forum end of August 2015

Croatian President’s surprising statement at the Europe Alpback Forum in Austria (around the same time as the holding of the Western Balkan Vienna Summit) suggesting that EU should cooperate with Russia on solving the Syria issue raised quite a few uneasy eyebrows around the Globe. The West is considering bombing Islamic State strongholds in Syria and for a while has wanted to rid Syria of Bashar al-Assad believing that would bring stability to the country, Russia has dug its heels in and one simply does not expect Vladimir Putin will give up his allegiance to and alliance with al-Assad that easily. Furthermore, instead of offering assistance with refugees and illegal migrants flooding Europe from Syria, Russia is announcing the building of its military bases in al-Assad’s heartland! Al-Assad can certainly not serve as a partner in fight against terrorism and, hence, indications are – neither can his ally Putin. Perhaps Croatia’s President thinks there’s ‘westward’ hope yet when it comes to Russia’s intentions in the Middle East? We live and learn, often with great unease. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)

Disclaimer, Terms and Conditions:

All content on “Croatia, the War, and the Future” blog is for informational purposes only. “Croatia, the War, and the Future” blog is not responsible for and expressly disclaims all liability for the interpretations and subsequent reactions of visitors or commenters either to this site or its associate Twitter account, @IVukic or its Facebook account. Comments on this website are the sole responsibility of their writers and the writer will take full responsibility, liability, and blame for any libel or litigation that results from something written in or as a direct result of something written in a comment. The nature of information provided on this website may be transitional and, therefore, accuracy, completeness, veracity, honesty, exactitude, factuality and politeness of comments are not guaranteed. This blog may contain hypertext links to other websites or webpages. “Croatia, the War, and the Future” does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness or completeness of information on any other website or webpage. We do not endorse or accept any responsibility for any views expressed or products or services offered on outside sites, or the organisations sponsoring those sites, or the safety of linking to those sites. Comment Policy: Everyone is welcome and encouraged to voice their opinion regardless of identity, politics, ideology, religion or agreement with the subject in posts or other commentators. Personal or other criticism is acceptable as long as it is justified by facts, arguments or discussions of key issues. Comments that include profanity, offensive language and insults will be moderated.
%d bloggers like this: