LOCAL PRESS

DS, SDS: Agreements good, but what of executive powers (Tanjug)

The Democratic Party (DS) and the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) as the opposition believe it is good that Belgrade and Pristina stands were converged in Brussels and that the agreement has been reached on four points but they also voiced criticism of the failure to reach an agreement on executive powers of the Community of Serb municipalities (ZSO). DS caucus whip Borislav Stefanovic told Tanjug that it is certainly positive that the agreement has been reached and that no better achievement could have been made at a moment such as this one. According to him, it is positive that ZSO would be set up and that the issues of energy and telecommunications have been resolved as announced earlier, but he qualified it as unfavourable that the issue of property has not been tackled and that ZSO has not been granted executive powers. SDS MP and former minister for Kosovo-Metohija Goran Bogdanovic agreed that it is positive that the agreement was reached, especially as it will open Serbia’s EU path, but he also voiced criticism concerning ZSO powers. If everything the government is saying is true, the Kosovo Constitution and laws should be amended, he said and added that little is said of the area code 383 which will be granted to Kosovo as a sovereign country. The agreements on ZSO, energy, telecommunications and the bridge on the Ibar River in Kosovska Mitrovica were signed in Brussels on Tuesday.

Djuric: ZSO will have executive powers (Tanjug)

Director of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija (KiM) Marko Djuric said on Wednesday that the Community of Serb municipalities would have tangible executive powers and that it would be directly funded by Serbia and excluded from all taxes, customs duties and other payments to institutions in Pristina. The statements reiterated by Albanian politicians according to which ZSO would never be able to be anything other than an NGO failed in the face of the text harmonized by our and the provincial prime ministers, Djuric told a news conference. He underscored that ZSO as the cornerstone of the survival of Serbs in KiM have obtained their political and formal foundation in the agreement harmonized in Brussels on Tuesday. ZSO employees will have a status of public servants and this is included in the principles of the agreement, implying that the community is officially a public institution. This asserts the powers, and ZSO will have political bodies typical of autonomous units, Djuric said. He underscored that ZSO has something that no other institution had in the past 15 years, direct institutional connections with Serbia. Marko Djuric also said that the energy system of north Kosovo-Metohija is staying in our hands, stressing that this is a great victory for Serbia. Serbia and Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) will continue to provide electricity to citizens of north Kosovo through its daughter companies, Djuric said at a press conference on the occasion of the agreements reached in Brussels. Djuric said that he had the greatest concerns about the agreement on energy due to its economic and political consequences, but pointed out that the energy system in north Kosovo-Metohija is staying in the hands of Serbia. Djuric said that everything should be done to make the EPS daughter companies economically sustainable and step up paying of electricity bills in north Kosovo. “Supply and power switch are in our hands and this is a great victory for Serbia,” said Djuric.

Dacic: EU should respond quickly, adopt tangible decisions (Vecernje Novosti)

Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic stated on Wednesday that he expects a quicker reaction and tangible decision concerning support to Serbia after the talks in Brussels such as the opening of the first negotiating chapters in the EU accession talks. Addressing the media, Dacic qualified as very important the fact that the agreement has been achieved which eliminated the obstacles for the implementation of the Brussels agreement as a document in which the constitution of the community of Serb municipalities represents the most important matter for Serbia. I expect the EU to respond quickly and adopt tangible decisions concerning its support to Serbia such as the opening of the first chapters in the accession talks, Dacic said. He also noted that Serbia has once more confirmed its commitment to peace, dialogue and its European path. The agreements on the Community of Serb municipalities, energy, telecommunications and the bridge on the Ibar River in Kosovska Mitrovica were signed on Tuesday.

Tasovac sends letter to Bokova in regard to Kosovo and UNESCO (Danas)

The Serbian government and the Ministry of Culture and Information resolutely oppose admitting Kosovo to UNESCO, Minister of Culture and Information Ivan Tasovac has said in a letter sent to UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and over 190 culture ministers across the world. The move would represent a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and it would negatively influence the current dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina and undermined the already frail security of cultural monuments in Kosovo, warns Tasovac, according to a release from the Ministry of Culture. He believes that such a move would be highly detrimental to the reconciliation process, but above all to the cultural heritage in Kosovo-Metohija, which, as he pointed out, is not only Serbian but also European and world heritage. I want to share with you my concerns about the recently announced campaign, resolutely opposed to by the Republic of Serbia, to admit the self-declared independent state of Kosovo to UNESCO, Tasovac said in the letter.

Serbia and Macedonia want EU “to take action” (Tanjug)

Serbia and Macedonia have asked the EU take action on the issue of asylum seekers, given that a million euros earmarked for assistance “is not enough.” Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic addressed a news conference in Vienna on Thursday, where a summit dedicated to the Western Balkans is under way, to point out that “Europe is faced with the largest refugee crisis since the Second World War” – one that is “a movement of people” in whose path lies Serbia as a transit country. “When I became interior minister in 2008 the number of asylum applications was 77, and during this year we have had 94,000. Although a majority of migrants entering Serbia from Bulgaria, Macedonia, and before that of Greece, express their intention to seek asylum, there is a clear intention that our country is only a transit country,” Dacic explained, stating that building fences cannot be an adequate response to the challenges of migrations. “You have been saying for years that asylum seekers come from Serbia and Macedonia to the EU – we can now say that migrants are coming to us from the EU. We are asking you: when do you intend to establish clear controls and how will you prevent them from coming. You will not prevent it with a million euros that you intend to give,” Dacic underlined. He then said that the EU, which wants Serbia and the countries in the region to create an action plan regarding migrants, “should first make its own action plans.” “Since you don’t have them (action plans) in Europe, we are set to carry the biggest burden, and that we are aware of,” he stressed. As for a conference on the problem of asylum seekers that the EU has scheduled for October, Dacic said it will be held “late”: “It’s easy to create problems in other parts of the world, while we should pay the price. We are certainly not to blame for the problems in the countries of origin (of migrants), while 2,000 cross our border every day,” said Dacic. He at the same time pointed out that Serbia still has 44,000 refugees “from past wars” and 220,000 internally displaced persons from Kosovo and Metohija, “which should not be neglected.” He stressed that only 1.9 percent of IDPs have returned to their homes in Kosovo, and that “Serbia is faced with migratory and refugee crises – it would not be fair to deal only with the current one.”

Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Popovski stressed that his country is faced with a special problem of receiving migrants coming “from an EU country.” He said that until recently about 4,000 migrants entered Macedonia each day, while estimates show this number will be around 3,000 a day in the coming period. In this regard, Poposki “stressed the need for financial assistance to the region,” but also remarked that “the announced million won’t be enough.” “For as long as there is no European response to this question, none of us is under any illusion that the problem will be solved. It is encouraging that the European Commission is aware of the problem,” he stressed.

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz underlined it was necessary to draw the attention of the EU “to the Western Balkan route” – and that this requires “a European approach to solving the problem of asylum seekers.” Kurz pointed out that it is “possible to find a solution to the challenge facing the continent only through a common European solution.” He said that Austria has defined five points ranging from measures in the countries of origin, including fighting Islamic State, establishing of safety zones, as well as better distribution of refugees in Europe and more efficient fight against smugglers. “If we do not find quickly a European answer then countries will try to solve the crisis with their own initiatives. It will not be successful and threatens the European idea of ​​open borders,” warned Kurz. EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn also spoke to say the current crisis regarding asylum seekers can be overcome “if everyone thinks and acts in a European manner.” “All 28 EU members must cooperate and those not affected must not hide. In a few weeks other regions of Europe could be affected,” he said. Hahn “called for solidarity of all the member states” adding he hoped the crisis will be overcome and that condition will be created to help the transit countries. In this regard, he said that the EU has put EUR 1.5 million at the disposal of Serbia and Macedonia as support in dealing with the problem of asylum seekers. “The main task will be to protect external borders, but we also must deal with the causes. In the neighborhood of Europe we already have 20 million refugees,” he stressed. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier pointed out that the problem of asylum seekers was “very much visible”: “On my way to this gathering from the airport I saw groups of people on the highway moving on foot toward Vienna. It shows how urgently this problem needs to be solved, and what a great challenge we are facing.” All EU member states, he said, must do their homework. The German official also asked for “European solidarity and fair distribution of refugees,” adding it was “necessary to cooperate also with all transit countries.”

Gasic: Migrants bring no threat of terrorism (RTS)

The Serbian Army is monitoring the entry of migrants into the country and their further journey through Serbia, Defense Minister Bratislav Gasic has said. He told the state broadcaster RTS that “every migrant goes through a detailed check” and that so far, this process “revealed nothing that might indicate a risk of terrorism.” Gasic added that it is “most important that each of the people entering Serbia in waves is registered. It is necessary to take fingerprints, that they receive papers and either leave the country or seek asylum within 48 hours,” the minister said. He explained that “the pre-reception center in Miratovce, near the border with Macedonia, was opened in order to see in time whether migrants are bringing something that could be used for terrorist actions.” According to the minister, in Miratovac “each migrant goes through a detailed check, and there is the second part of the aid – water, food. Also, if we find that someone is ill, we can isolate them.” Gasic said that “the most important thing is to examine in detail their baggage.” “From there, they go in a controlled fashion to the reception center in Presevo. It costs a lot, but there they have all the conditions, primarily women and children, there is a part with beds and bathrooms. And, there’s also the Red Cross,” said the minister, adding military doctors have been working in reception centers. “Usually, there are injuries due to prolonged walking, and there’s malnutrition in children. There was also a childbirth over the weekend,” Gasic said. He stressed that the path of refugees toward the north of the country is monitored and that there have been “no extraordinary cases” so far. According to Gasic, “the army is a member of the Serbian government’s team led by Labor Minister Aleksandar Vulin – and all organs are working well as a coordinated team.” “You saw during the past month that Serbia takes care of them (migrants) in a fair manner, as required by the Geneva Conventions, and precisely because of such attitude there have been no incidents like our neighbors have had,” the minister stressed. Gasic also spoke about the purchase of two military helicopters from Russia, saying that preliminary contracts were made last week while negotiations will continue on Monday. He said the price will depend on additional equipment, adding he “did not wish to speak about it yet.” He added that negotiations were also ongoing with Airbus about the planned modernization of the Galeb 4 planes. Regarding the participation of the Serbian Army Guard unit at the military parade in Beijing next week, Gasic said it was a parade marking the 70th anniversary of victory over fascism, “and there is no reason for criticism from any side.” He added that the Serbian Army has signed more than 60 bilateral and military agreements with 60 countries, and participated this year “in several such parades.” The minister also mentioned the army “receiving over 25 vehicles for emergencies.” According to Gasic, “this also shows the trust it the Serbian Army while the army is a significant holder of diplomatic activities of Serbia.” China, the minister concluded, “is one of the more important pillars of the foreign policy of the Republic of Serbia.”

REGIONAL PRESS

Inzko: Border Agreement between B&H and Montenegro points the region in the right direction (Fena)

High Representative Inzko, who is attending the Vienna Conference on the Western Balkans, congratulated the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Montenegro following today’s signing of a border treaty between the two countries. “In particular I want to praise Foreign Minister Crnadak and the State Commission for Borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the work they have done to make this breakthrough. It is precisely practical steps like this that will enable Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region to move forward with greater confidence” the High Representative said in Vienna. The High Representative also expressed his hope that the progress made today will speed up the border agreements being put in place with Bosnia and Herzegovina’s other neighbors, the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Serbia.

Inzko: I retain the necessary instruments to uphold the GFAP (Klix.ba)

It is mostly claimed that B&H cannot be a functional state because of its complicated constitutional order which has been developed by a ramified system of administration at all levels of government. What are the areas that need constitutional changes and to which extent would it be possible to implement them, considering the current political structure of the State and the Entities?

The immediate priority is not constitutional change. The immediate priority is to make progress on the reform agenda that has been adopted by the State and Entity authorities. The foreseen reforms at this point can be done without changing the Constitution. Let us start here, make some decent progress, which in turn could lead the country to send a credible membership application to the EU. A track record of reaching healthy compromises will do much to strengthen a sense of optimism and trust which is essential if this country is to really move forward on the Euro Atlantic path. To do this we will need politicians who have the strength to discuss and to reach solid compromises. This is the mark of a real statesman and a real political leader. Everything else is hot air and the continued departure of the brightest and the best in this country. Clearly the current approach to politics is not working as citizens are voting with their feet by leaving and this has to stop.

Future constitutional changes will be a result of a domestic dialogue and healthy compromise and will fully respect the established procedures as laid out in the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This was the case for the only amendment adopted to the B&H Constitution so far, an amendment concerning the Brcko District. For those of your readers who don’t know this, the agreement on this constitutional amendment was facilitated by the OHR back in 2009.

Are the interests of some more important subjects within international relations, such as the interests of the world’s great powers, colliding in B&H? Is B&H a vital national interest of the international community since it is a rare case where the international community has succeeded in securing lasting peace that has not escalated into new conflicts?

The international community in B&H has one common goal only: to ensure lasting stability in the country and to help its citizens live in dignity. Of course, sometimes different countries have different views on how to move forward, but we never lose sight of our common goal.

It is obvious that the international community is committed to this country and its progress. Since the adoption of the reform agenda by the State and Entity governments, international community wishes to see concrete results. The adoption of the FB&H Labor Law is a good example, but far from enough. The International Community is ready to support the reform agenda but we cannot do the job of the politicians, elected by the citizens. Our common vision remains a re-integrated, functional and prosperous Bosnia and Herzegovina, a state which works in the interests of its citizens and is a fully integrated member of the European family.

President of the Republika Srpska Entity Milorad Dodik announced a referendum on the judiciary. He also pointed out that he thought that a referendum should also be called in Republika Srpska about the powers of the High Representative. What are the chances for these referenda to be called in the Republika Srpska Entity and are there any mechanisms on the part of the International Community to prevent something like this? Is the International Community, in this case too, trying to avoid removals of B&H politicians?

The announced RS referendum is an extremely serious matter. If it goes ahead, this is an initiative which threatens to destabilize the country to the detriment of all and at a time when all energy needs to be focused on the reform agenda. The Republika Srpska has a right to hold a referendum – but only about issues that are in its competencies. This is clearly not the case with the proposed referendum, which represents a clear violation of the Dayton Peace Agreement because it addresses issues that fall outside the competencies of the Republika Srpska. There is absolutely no doubt that the RS National Assembly adopted a decision that goes beyond its competencies despite being clearly warned in advance by the International Community not to do so. Voting against essential parts of the General Framework Agreement for Peace is irresponsible to say the least and can cause serious consequences. I retain the necessary instruments to uphold the GFAP. The referendum needs to be put aside and instead of wasting time and energy on an unconstitutional initiative that will lead to no changes, those politicians who initiated it should instead focus on the real needs of the B&H citizens whose views they claim to represent. The real needs are about improving the socio-economic situation, with a focus on creating job opportunities. There are other avenues for those who are genuinely interested in improving the judiciary and there is space. Improvements to and strengthening of the judiciary at all levels is absolutely possible through competent institutions. What we cannot have is judicial institutions especially those that have a key role to play in the fight against corruption being weakened. This wouldn’t be supported by either the International Community or the public who want to see corrupt officials convicted.

How do you comment on the relations with B&H neighbours?

Over the years there has been a steady improvement in relations with all three of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s neighbors, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro. This is exactly as it should be. Bosnia and Herzegovina must be respected like any other country. There will of course be ups and downs, but what is important is that the trend is positive and that the relations with all three countries become ever more concrete and practical. So far example, it would be welcome to see all three countries ratifying border treaties with Bosnia and Herzegovina. It appears that progress on this front could soon be made with Montenegro, which I very much welcome. I also hope that we will finally see the long announced joint government session of the executive authorities of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The bottom line is that regional cooperation is a win-win situation for all concerned. Eventually we will see all the countries of the region working and living as one within the framework of the European Union. This is what we need to accelerate and that requires the delivery of reforms. Regions will pull together. To be a Serb in Bijeljina or Serbia, or a Croat in Herzegovina or in Dalmatia will be less important as these will be all regions under the European umbrella.

Strained political rhetoric, announcement of a referendum, attack on the Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, attacks based on religious hatred, terrorist attacks… Should B&H citizens be afraid of new conflicts?

No, citizens should certainly not live in fear, but they should also not be passive and accept the negative atmosphere that some seem intent on fueling. Now is the time for citizens to become active agents of positive change in their communities. Citizens must realize that democracy does not end at the closing of election polls on Election Day. They have to demand from the politicians to fulfill their promises. They also need to be far more vocal in saying no to the politics of conflict and division that have brought us to this point. Show you are a human being, stand up for the rights of your friends and neighbors if they are being harassed. Everyone is entitled to live with dignity and without a sense of fear. So let me also take this opportunity to appeal directly to citizens to show solidarity with each other and to root out and hold to account the very few people in this country who perpetrate ethnically motivated attacks. Every local community, every law enforcement agency has a role to play here in stamping this out. My praise goes out to those public figures who have spoken out against the recent attacks. Institutions at all levels of Bosnia and Herzegovina also have a direct responsibility to nurture a climate of tolerance that enables people to live freely and without fear in every corner of this country regardless of their name, religion or any other affiliation. Perpetrators need to be brought to justice. Having said that, I am an optimist when it comes to the future of B&H. This country has so many resources, both human and natural and they offer the potential for real progress. Progress won’t happen by itself, but it will if people get engaged in the way we have seen at the National Museum or the phenomenal youth basketball team. So let’s not give up hope, let us instead pull together, roll up our sleeves and get this country moving forwards, to fully utilize its vast potential, both in natural resources, as well as its hardworking and resourceful people.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Vucic Faces Charges Over BIRN Business School Probe (BIRN)

The Serbian opposition political movement “Enough is enough”, led by Sasa Radulovic, has filed charges against Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic based on a BIRN investigation into loans granted by the Belgrade Business School.

The movement “Enough is enough – Sasa Radulovic” has filed corruption charges against Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and other officials related to the Belgrade Business School. It accuses Vucic, who was the First Deputy Prime Minister at the time of the alleged offence, of abuse of office. The Movement says that in 2013, he and other officials forced the director of the school, Ilija Samardzic, to “lend” 781 million dinars (about 7 million euro) to the Simpo company, to Novosti newspaper, Kon Tiki company and the water polo club, “Radnicki”. Radulovic told BIRN on Tuesday that he was concerned that the media had remained silent on the whole subject, as no local media have reported their accusation. Radulovic said his organization fled charges against Vucic on August 22. A one day earlier, it also filed charges against former President Boris Tadic and former Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic over the “Satellite” case and all the media had quoted their statement. The Satellite case concerns a contract signed in 2005 between Belgrade and an Israeli company, Imagesat, which was never realized, as a result of which Serbia was taken to court and ordered to compensate the company. “It is strange that they all mentioned our charges against the former government, even the public broadcaster RTS, but when it comes to charges against the current government under Vucic, the media are silent,” Radulovic told BIRN. “This is a good example of how our media work,” Radulovic concluded. According to the BIRN investigation, The Belgrade Business School unlawfully lent 7 million euros to heavily-indebted companies that were unlikely to repay the money, under pressure from government officials. Budget Inspector Ljubomir Zakula who ran the business school inspection for several months, as well as financial experts with whom BIRN talked, consider the loan illegal. Serbia’s Budget System Law does not allow the school, as a budget user, to lend money. In addition, the loan was given without the permission of the School Council, which was only subsequently informed about it. Ilija Samardzic, director of the school until March this year, who has also been charged, denies breaching any regulations and causing the possible loss of several million euros. He says he notified the finance ministry beforehand and only signed off on the transactions because intense pressure to approve the loans came from the top of the government. “I wouldn’t have done that if they [the government] hadn’t planned it and asked for and collected the money to help certain companies,” he told BIRN. Samardzic said that Borislav Milacic, chairman of Simpo’s supervisory board, called him from Vucic’s office and put pressure on him to sign off on the loan immediately. “He said to me: ‘Give that (loan) immediately. There’s a Russian coming who is going to buy Simpo. Vucic is going down there, if you don’t give that [loan], they will have nothing to do. No raw material, no deal’,” the retired director told BIRN. The movement has also filed charges against presently unidentified officials in government, Simpo, Novosti, Kon Tiki and the water polo club “Radnicki” as well as against Samardzic.

EU to start accession talks with Serbia ‘very soon’ (World Bulletin/News Desk)

Enlargement commissioner says official accession talks with Serbia will start soon

World Bulletin / News Desk

The EU is set to start accession talks with Serbia very soon, its commissioner in charge of enlargement of the union, Johannes Hahn, said on Thursday at a Western Balkan Summit in Vienna. “The atmosphere is such that we should very soon start official accession talks with Serbia,” Hahn said after Serbia and its previous province Kosovo took steps towards overcoming decades of animosity this week in Brussels. Discussions on Serbian accession had started last year, but so far no formal so-called negotiation chapters had been opened due to slow progress on the regulation of Serbian relations with Kosovo.

Bosnia Charges Prosecutor with War Crimes Case Negligence (BIRN)

State-level prosecutor Mirko Lecic is accused of negligently stalling an investigation into war crimes against Serb civilians in a village near Sarajevo for over four years.

Disciplinary prosecutor Mirza Hadziomerovic told a status conference on the case on Wednesday that Lecic was charged because he failed to look into the contents of a criminal complaint within an investigation for war crimes against Serb civilians in the village of Cemerno near Sarajevo from 2007 until early 2012, unacceptably delaying its progress.According to Hadziomerovic, Lecic acted negligently because the case was not active for four years before being transferred to another prosecutor.“This had a significant influence on the length of the entire proceedings and this investigation in which we have known perpetrators, and in a war crimes case in which we have significant public interest,” said Hadiomerovic.Cemerno in the Ilijas municipality near Sarajevo was attacked in June 1992 by Bosniak forces and more than 30 civilians were killed. No one has been charged with any crimes committed there so far.Last month, parliament in Bosnia’s Serb-led entity Republika Srpska voted for a referendum on the state-level prosecution and court because of its objections to alleged bias against Serb victims.But prosecutor Lecic said that although the case was given to him in 2007, it was not true that he failed to look into the criminal complaint until 2012.He explained that as early as 2009, he told the then head of the Bosnian state prosecution war crimes department, Vesna Budimir, that the case was about crimes in the Sarajevo region and not the Central Bosnia region for which he is responsible.“Chief Budimir said that my team should send the case back to the registry office, which we did. The case stayed there for a while. When the electronic system for tracking cases was opened, you can see that I am not listed in charge of this case,” said Lecic.“In 2012, a letter came in connection to this investigation and someone from the registry office came to me and said that the case is still listed as mine. I then filed an official request to transfer the case to the Sarajevo team,” he added.Lecic said that in 2010, he and an associate conducted an analysis of all his cases, in which he mentioned that the Cemerno criminal complaint had been reviewed and that he recommended that it be transferred to another prosecutorial team.

The High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council disciplinary commission scheduled the main hearing in the Lecic case for September 11.

Migration Crisis Threatens European No-Borders Policy (Sputnik)

As Italian ministers defended themselves from criticism from France and Germany over its handling of the migrant crisis, cracks are beginning to appear in the fundamental principle of freedom of movement throughout the European Union. Italy’s Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni rebuked German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande after they accused Italy and Greece of failing to speed up the establishment of registration centers for newly-arrived migrants. “Asking Greece and Italy to do their duty on immigration is like asking a country hit by floods to step up the production of umbrellas,” Gentiloni said. “Europe needs to go in exactly the opposite direction from attacking the countries situated on its external borders.”

The issue came to a head as governments across Europe struggled to deal with the mass influx of migrants from the Balkans, the Middle East and Africa. Under the Schengen Agreement, all migrants are supposed to be processed in the country of entry. However, many are using the no-borders policy to travel uninhibited through Europe to the country of their choice.

North-South Divide Thanos Dokos, director general of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy told Carnegie Europe: “The euro and the Schengen zone have been two of the EU’s most tangible and widely recognizable achievements. Now, both are faced with considerable, even existential, challenges. The concept of a border-free Europe is being tested by the evolving migration and refugee crisis, with an extremely high number of people from Syria and other conflict regions trying to cross into European countries (mainly Greece and Italy) in an attempt to seek asylum in their final destination country in Northern Europe”. “The limited enthusiasm of most EU states-with the notable exceptions of Germany and Sweden-to undertake any commitments in the context of a burden-sharing agreement promoted by the European Commission is once more testing the limits of European solidarity and the idea of common European policies,” Dokos added.

The Schengen zone — which excludes the UK and Ireland — has created a huge area within Europe where there are no border controls, but where a huge burden has been put on peripheral nations bordering conflict zones. Countries such as Italy, Greece and Malta have become overwhelmed by migrants, who travel onwards unchecked to other countries in Europe. This has created a north-south divide, with northern states demanding that asylum seekers stay in the south and southern states demanding northern Europe shoulders its fair share of responsibility. EU ministers in July failed to agree a deal over the distribution of 40,000 migrants, mostly from Eritrea and Syria. With more than 800,000 due to be arriving in Germany alone this year, there is considerable pressure on EU states to undertake a complete re-think of its migration and no-borders policies.

German Foreign Ministry Earmarks $9.1 Mln in Aid to Refugees in Serbia (Sputnik)

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on EU member states to assume responsibility for providing “quick and effective” assistance to the refugees in Serbia and Macedonia.

The German Federal Foreign Office (AA) has allocated 1 million euro ($1.14 million) for humanitarian aid to refugees in Serbia and Macedonia, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Wednesday. “We cannot stand idly by when refugees in distress seek protection in [countries] neighboring European Union states,” Steinmeier said in a statement posted on the AA website. The minister called on EU member states to assume responsibility for providing “quick and effective” assistance to the refugees. He added that 400,000 euro would be allocated to the Serbian branch of the religious charity Caritas, and 200,000 euro to the German Red Cross in Macedonia. The money is intended to provide refugees with food, medical and psychological care, as well as hygiene kits, blankets and sleeping bags. Steinmeier, along with Vice Chancellor and Economics Minister Sigmar Gabriel, published a 10-point action plan for an EU-wide response to the ensuing refugee crisis on Sunday. Macedonia declared a state of emergency last week due to the migrant crisis, while Serbia continues to serve as a transit point for migrants crossing into Hungary and onward into the European Union.