LOCAL PRESS

 

Vucic: Elections “most probably” on 24 April (RTS)

The early parliamentary elections will most probably be held on 24 April, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday evening, announcing that he would, in a deadline of two days, submit an elaborated proposal for the dissolution of parliament to Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic; this is one of two ways to bring about these elections. “The government’s elaborated proposal will be issued to the President in a matter of two days, and then he will decide on the date of the elections, and according to that which he has previously told me I believe that this will be 24 April”, Vucic said in an interview for Radio Television Serbia(RTS).

 

Drecun hopes Thaqi will not be an obstacle for formation of ZSO (Tanjug)

The Chairperson of the Serbian parliamentary Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun has voiced expectation that the newly elected Kosovo President Hashim Thaqi will not be an obstacle to the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities (ZSO) and that the Serb community had made a “rational decision” by giving support to Thaqi in the Assembly to become president. “We expect Thaqi not to be an obstacle to and not to hinder the ZSO. We expect him to contribute constructively from this post to stabilization in Kosovo, and especially to improving the position of the Serbs,” Drecun told journalists in the Serbian parliament. He assessed that the Serb community in Kosovo had demonstrated that “it can make a rational decision in the most difficult moments”. “What worries is the unwillingness of the Albanians and the authorities in Pristina to respect the Brussels agreement,” said Drecun.

 

Djuric: No justification for postponing formation of ZSO (TV Most/Tanjug/RTS)

“Serbia finds the process of postponing the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities (ZSO) unacceptable and we had clearly stated this before over 190 United Nations member states, the permanent and non-permanent members of the Security Council,” said the Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric told TV Most in Zvecan. “There is no excuse and justification for further procrastination and Serbia will persevere in its efforts to implement the agreements and to provide a normal life for our people,” said Djuric. He says that, for Serbia, the United Nations is the main address when it comes to many important political issues that concern the status of the southern Serbian province. “The United Nations Security Council is the forum before which Serbia presents facts on the events in Kosovo and Metohija, the position of our people in Kosovo and Metohija, disrespect of agreements and violation of the rights of our people. There are records on every incident and event that are presented before over 190 United Nations members,” said Djuric, adding that this is the “key political stage for Serbia where it receives the support of the international political public and where it presents its arguments”. Djuric opines that Serbia’s presentation before the Security Council is important, as well as the perseverance of the Serbian government in insisting on the Security Council meeting once in three months to discuss the issue of our position in Kosovo and Metohija. “We don’t have another and more important address in international organizations and the international community,” said Djuric, adding that “somebody decided several years ago to transfer the dialogue from the United Nations to some other bodies, which was well before the government of Prime Minister Vucic had assumed responsibility”. He reiterated that “for us, the United Nations remains the first and main address when it comes to acquainting the world public with the problems we are facing in Kosovo and Metohija”.

In regard to the upcoming elections, Djuric said that all polling stations will be open in Kosovo and Metohija and Serbian citizens who are registered in electoral rolls will be able and should exercise their right to vote, especially over the political circumstances. He called on the citizens who reside in the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija to check whether they are on the electoral roll and to exercise their right to vote on 24 April, if this date is determined for elections.

 

McAllister: EU accession closely linked to normalization with Kosovo (CorD Magazine/B92)

“The rule of law Chapters 23 and 24 should be opened as soon as possible in order to help Serbia to continue on its path towards the European Union. I believe that the opening of these chapters in June is realistic,” the European Parliament Rapporteur for Serbia David McAllister told the CorD Magazine in an interview. “Serbia’s EU accession process is linked closely to the normalization of relations with Kosovo. Serbia is engaged in the normalization process and finalized key agreements on August 25, 2015. These agreements marked another significant step forward towards further normalizing relations between Serbia and Kosovo. Both sides must now move forward with the full implementation of all agreements already reached, in good faith and in a timely manner,” he said. According to him, this also applies to the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities: “The formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities forms a key part of the Brussels Agreement. Both sides should foster its implementation.” To the observation that “it seems that all dialogue ultimately boils down to the issue of recognizing the independence of Kosovo,” the German MEP replied: “Due to five member states not recognizing Kosovo’s independence, this issue remains at the center of controversial debates; also in the EP. The Belgrade-Pristina dialogue is about the comprehensive normalization of relations. This is the term used in the conclusions of the European Council and in the negotiation framework. At the end of the negotiations, a legally-binding agreement has to be reached.”

 

Dittmann: Normalization with Pristina and EU accession parallel processes (TV N1/Beta)

German Ambassador to Serbia Axel Dittmann told TV N1 that Berlin was not asking

Serbia to recognize Kosovo, although the EU’s joint stance was that there must be a comprehensive normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina. Dittmann said that the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina was important for Serbia becoming a member of the EU and that the process of normalizing relations and accession to the EU went hand-in-hand.

 

Croatia, Serbia request Montenegro to extradite Djukic (Beta)

Croatia and Serbia requested the extradition of Borislav Djukic, a retired Yugoslav National Army general, who was arrested under Croatia's warrant for his arrest last July, Djukic's lawyer Milorad Ivanovic confirmed. The Montenegrin Ministry of Justice has until March 18 to decide on the motion. Djukic, aged 66, has been imprisoned near Podgorica since July 19, when he was arrested at the airport in Tivat, on suspicion of having committed a war crime in Croatia during the 1990s wars in former Yugoslavia. Just weeks ahead of the extradition date, the president of the Alliance of Serbs from the Region, Miodrag Linta, also a Serbian Progressive Party MP, sent a letter to Montenegrin Minister of Justice Zoran Pazin, asking that the retired general of the former Yugoslav National Army be extradited to Serbia, where he could "expect a fair trial."

 

Parliament debating new defense minister (RTS)

The Serbian parliament is set to appoint Zoran Djordjevic new defense minister who will take up the position on a temporary basis – until formation of the new government, following early parliament elections. Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic tabled parliament a proposal to appoint Djordjevic, outgoing state secretary in the Defense Ministry, as new minister.

 

SNP to join SNS (Tanjug)

The Presidency of the Serbian People’s Party (SNP) has unanimously decided to be on the joint list with the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) at the upcoming parliamentary elections. “Preservation of military neutrality of Serbia, maximum efforts towards developing economic relations between Serbia and Russia, and especially the struggle to preserve Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia and support for the sovereignty of the Republika Srpska on the original Dayton principles, will be the basic principles of the SNP activities during the pre-election and post-election cooperation with the SNS,” reads the statement.

 

Karic on SNS list, again (FoNet)

Milanka and Dragomir J.Karic will be the candidates on the SNS election list at the upcoming parliamentary elections, the Movement of Serbia’s Strength-BK (PSS-BK) announced. The movement will be a loyal partner, just as in the past period, who will continue to offer full support to the reform course of the Serbian government led by Vucic.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Formal reception held at B&H Presidency (Klix)

Members of the B&H Presidency Dragan Covic and Bakir Izetbegovic hosted the last night’s reception on the occasion of the March 1, the Independence Day of B&H. The reception was attended by numerous representatives of the public life, accentuating the importance of March 1 in the B&H history. Addressing the attendees, the Chairman Covic said that, 24 years since obtaining independence, B&H still endures under punches, that it is a vulnerable social community jeopardized from all sides, but that everyone must work together for a better tomorrow. Moreover, Covic said that the absence of the third member of the B&H Presidency does not diminish the significance of March 1. Speaking of the past, Covic said that there are at least three versions of what happened, but that the vision must be one – unity. B&H Presidency Bakir Izetbegovic said that B&H has made a huge step forward towards the European Union and that the economic parameters indicate progress, just not as much so as the citizens would notice it right now. “There is more to March 1, 2015 than there was in 2015. I am an optimist because many people love this country. The war divided us 24 years ago, but the great majority wants the same – perspective and future for its children. The day will come when we will all celebrate this holiday,” Izetbegovic said.

 

B&H Independence Day – date which insults Serbs (Srpska)

For most politicians and officials from Republika Srpska (RS) March 1st is perceived as an unacceptable date for celebration. They all agree that for Serbs in B&H this date meant over-voting conducted by the Bosniaks and Croats, which caused ethnic war in B&H. “There is no perception of this date as an important day in B&H for us. This day will be celebrated by the Bosniaks, Croats – only if they had to, and ignored by the Serbs.” – said the RS President, Milorad Dodik. Serb member of B&H Presidency Mladen Ivanic stressed that RS and Serbs will never recognize March 1st, so called statehood day, because the referendum which was held at the time was against the will of Serbs, and brutally murder of Serbian wedding party on Bascarsija – were the introduction to the cruel war. The RS Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic said that March 1st is a sad and tragic date for the Serb people in these parts and that the events that happened on that day – the holding of a referendum and the killing of a member of the Serbian wedding party in Bascarsija in Sarajevo – indicated the war in B&H. Ivanic added that for him personally, this date means nothing and he feels like it doesn’t exist. “It’s deeply irritating for the RS and Serbs in B&H, and its celebration is insult for us,” said Ivanic. It seems that Serb politicians in the RS and B&H institutions finally found the common ground – in national consensus about the perception of the past in B&H. Last time it happened for the RS Day January 9, and today it seems that those are the only things they do not argue with each other at the present. Long story short, March 1 is highly non-eligible for the state holiday in multicultural society such as B&H, and all those questions of celebrations and holidays will be prolonged, probably for the future generations of B&H leaders, to try to manage compromise and reconciliation about those, and many other questions which occurred to be unsolvable at the moment.

 

RS firm in building its status (Srna)

The RS President Milorad Dodik has stated that the RS will not abandon building its status, which implies it will decide on the most important issues, instead of the decisions being imposed. “We have always managed when we do not get those who are obedient and believe in unequaled power of the international community. Eh, then our rights and status erode,” Dodik told Srna. “Attacks on the RS will not stop, but it is very clear that the RS was neither born accidentally nor like an excess. RS is a genuine Serb’s desire for freedom. No freedom without state and the state we live in is called the RS” Dodik said. He points out that both the RS and he are exceptionally honored to have Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic and Russian Ambassador Alexander Chepurin among the guests at reception marking of the RS Day and 24 years since the first RS Constitution. “Russia defends international law, but those who feel powerful in the West violate it. So, Russia in the UN Security Council has always acknowledged whatever came from the RS, checked and claimed it was true, not the lies told by high representative in B&H, which was written in Sarajevo,” said Dodik.

 

Zukic: Zvizdic has SDA’s full confidence (Fena)

There is no official request for the dismissal of Denis Zvizdic, the chair of the B&H Council of Ministers. Zvizdic is performing his duties very well, Amir Zukic, Secretary-General of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), told Fena on the occasion of allegations in the media of Zvizdic’s possible dismissal. “Only statements by certain political functionaries speak of the possibility of dismissal,” says Zukic. He says that this is a malicious reference to the work of Zvizdic and that Zvizdic is “not a person of backdoor actions”, which can be confirmed on the basis of the fact that he knows the chair of the Council of Ministers well. “Denis Zvizdic has the full confidence of the SDA. We are satisfied with the results, given the circumstances in which he has acted thus far: the re-composition of the parliamentary majority, the cadre’s insufficiency in the Council of Ministers, the behavior of the SNSD, coalition partners’ calculations…” said Zukic. The chairman has performed excellently in such circumstances and successfully performs his duties, concludes Zukic.

 

First Krivokapic to be dismissed then dialogue (RTCG)

The government and opposition will resume talks after the session of the parliament when Krivokapic would be dismissed, said the political director of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), Tarzan Milosevic adding that he is convinced that an acceptable agreement for all political subjects would be reached. He said that DPS is still open to talks, but it is logical that they will be continued after the parliament session at which the dismissal of the President of the Parliament Ranko Krivokapic would be discussed. The initiators of the initiative for Krivokapic’s dismissal requested session to be held on 10 March. In an interview with daily "Dan" Milosevic said that it was DPS which first offered to representatives of the opposition parties to participate in the Government. He recalled that Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic at the parliamentary session in January, had offered four ministerial positions, and position of the Deputy Prime Minister.

"He did it in order to reach the election results that would be accorded by all political subjects” Milosevic said. He added that his party is ready to continue negotiations adding they want elections which outcome would be accepted by all participants.

 

DF accepted Milic’s invitation (Antena M)

Democratic Front accepted the invitation of the Socialist People's Party (SNP) to attend a meeting to try to reach a single agreement on further actions of the opposition, said the DF official, Milan Knezevic. SNP leader Srdjan Milic has invited the presidents of all the opposition parties to a meeting to try to find unique agreement on what steps they should make to contribute to resolving the deepening political crisis and show a responsible attitude towards the difficult economic and social situation in Montenegro. Knezevic refused to reveal details regarding the DF’s decision, he just briefly said that everything will be known tomorrow. “We will attend tomorrow's meeting organized by the SNP. More information and answers to all the questions we will reveal at the press conference after the meeting,” said Knezevic for Antena M. The invitation was sent to the Presidency of the Democratic Front, the Demos leader Miodrag Lekic and the presidents of the Social Democratic Party, the Civic Movement URA and the Democratic Montenegro Ranko Krivokapic, Zarko Rakcevic and Aleksa Becic.

 

Slovenia FM: Cooperation in managing refugee crisis improves with new Croatian government (Hina)

The cooperation between Slovenia and Croatia in managing the migration crisis has been much better since Croatia got the new government, Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec told the national broadcaster on Sunday, adding that his Croatian counterpart Miro Kovac is scheduled to visit Ljubljana in March. “Cooperation with the new Croatian government regarding migrants is much better than with the previous government led by (Prime Minister Zoran) Milanovic,” Erjavec said in an interview broadcast on Sunday. Erjavec said that he had already met the new Croatian Foreign Minister Kovac during multilateral events, and that Kovac would pay a visit to Ljubljana in March. Erjavec said that the economic relations between the two neighbors were good, while he did not expect swift headway to be made in efforts to resolve the outstanding issues such as the border demarcation. He added that the security situation in Slovenia was not undermined by the tide of migrants, and criticized the Opposition of trying to stir up fears in this regard with no reason. According to the Slovenian police data, only 382 migrants crossed into Slovenia from Croatia on Sunday, which was the lowest daily intake since the start of this year. As many as 96,125 migrants and refugees crossed the Croatian-Slovenia border since 1 January 2016. On Sunday, 357 migrants went further to Austria which imposed a daily limit on the number of migrants and refugees entering its territory several days ago.

 

Special Public Prosecutor’s Office postponed “Coup” case hearing, court did not deliver evidence (MIA)

Special Public Prosecutor’s Office will request a delay for the main hearing of the “Coup” case scheduled on Wednesday, 10:00 am, at the Criminal Court. The reason behind it, according to the Prosecution, was that the Court did not deliver the copies of the evidence. The “Coup” case charged Zoran Zaev, Zoran Verushevski, his wife Sonja, Branko Palifrov, official in Municipality of Strumica, and Gjorgji Lazarevski, employee of the Interior Ministry, on the counts of espionage and violence of high officials. Since August 2015, when the first hearing was scheduled, the trial is constantly postponed. Initially, the reason behind it was that Zoran Zaev, who demanded the case to be given to the Special Public Prosecutor's Office, did not show up.

 

State Election Commission intensively works on electoral roll revision (Telegraf.mk)

IT experts have hands full of work with cross checking voters data, which are expected to show whether certain people featuring the electoral roll are excessive, Telegraf.mk reads. Officials with the State Election Commission inform that their work is ongoing, and that they have not faced any major problems so far, therefore results are expected to be concluded soon. European Union representatives and technical Prime Minister Emil Dimitriev have decisively said that there is more than enough time to revise the electoral roll by June 5, when early general election is scheduled to take place.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Op/ED-European Path of Kosovo (Independent Balkan News Agency, by Elton Tota, 2 March 2016)

By Samuel Žbogar, Head of EU Office in Kosovo/EU Special Representative

Kosovo has a clear European perspective and recent events prove it. When I came to Kosovo in 2012, two important processes started between the EU and Kosovo: discussions on concluding the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) and a roadmap on visa liberalisation.

Four years later, we have the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Union and Kosovo that will enter into force on 1 April 2016, as the most important achievement for the Kosovo-EU relations over the past few years. This is the first comprehensive contract between the EU and Kosovo, which provides concrete tools to improve economy, create jobs, fight corruption, strengthen democracy and rule of law, and increase political and institutional stability. It is now up to Kosovo to make it work for its citizens. The more Kosovo implements the SAA, the closer its standards will be to those in the EU.

And at the end of the last year, the European Commission presented its Final report on Kosovo’s fulfillment of visa liberalisation requirements. We came close to the end of the journey. We trust that Kosovo can meet the remaining few recommendations in a near future. As soon as this is done, the Commission will propose to the EU member states and to the European Parliament lifting of visas for Kosovo citizens. Member states and the European Parliament are the ones who will make the final decision enabling Kosovo citizens to travel visa free to the Schengen area.

The EU is the main partner of Kosovo. The EU and its member states are the largest investor, trade partner, and donor. Half of all donations to Kosovo come from the EU and until 2020 the EU has committed to invest another 650 million euro in Kosovo.

All of the above, including the continuous assistance provided by Eulex, shows how the EU engages with political actors in Kosovo to support stability and the rule of law that will enable prosperity for the Kosovo people.

Unfortunately, for the past several months the politicians of Kosovo have spent most of their time and energy dealing with themselves instead of dealing with what the people need them to do: improving economy and creating opportunities for new jobs, strengthening the rule of law and fighting corruption as prerequisites for the economic well-being. In the coming period, we need to see a change. We need to see politicians throwing proposals rather than water bottles at each other on how to make Kosovo better. We need them to fight with ideas not with teargas on how to improve lives of their citizens. We need them to put Kosovo first. We hope that the two sides, the government and the opposition, will find a way to sit around the table, engage in a political dialogue, and find a way out of the current crisis in the interest of Kosovo people.

Let me also mention two difficult yet important achievements for Kosovo recently: the Brussels agreements within the dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade, and the establishment of the Specialist Chambers. The Specialist Chambers are an important rule of law tool that will finally clarify some issues from the past. I know that there has been a lot of fear among both the Albanians and the Serbs in relation to what the Brussels agreements bring, especially in terms of the Association/Community of municipalities with the Serb majority in Kosovo. Serbs fear integration in Kosovo unless the Association/Community is put in place. On the other hand, the Albanian majority is fearful that there will be no Serb integration if Association/Community comes to life. Both sides have the right to their fears, but at the same time they should try to understand and respect each other’s concerns. By doing that, they would also find a way to draft the statute of the Association/Community the way that would unite communities and strengthen Kosovo.

The SAA will come into force this spring, the Specialist Chambers will start with their operation, and the Association/Community will come to life. Along with the visa liberalisation, these are important benchmarks on Kosovo’s European path. This February Kosovo got a new President. I hope he will invest all his knowledge and energy to bridge the divide in the Kosovo society, make the political dialogue a norm and contribute to furthering Kosovo-EU relations.

This will not be an easy year, but I am hopeful about the future. This is because I have faith in the people, who are hard-working and want a better Kosovo. I trust that the political elites will also give their contribution to a more prosperous Kosovo, by concentrating more on the needs of their people and less on political bickering. As always, the EU will be here to provide its support.

 

Serbia Sends Albanian Schoolbooks Back to Kosovo (BIRN, by Petrit Collaku, 2 March 2016)

Albanian-language textbooks from Pristina intended for ethnic Albanian pupils in Serbia’s Presevo Valley have been sent back to the Kosovo border after Belgrade said they were politically biased.

Around 100,000 elementary school textbooks intended for ethnic Albanian children in southern Serbia was sent back to Kosovo on Tuesday after being held for over six months at a customs terminal in Presevo. The Belgrade authorities refused to allow the truckloads of Albanian-language books to be distributed to schools in the Presevo Valley, arguing that they were politically biased. Azem Guri, a political adviser to Kosovo’s education minister, said that the trucks were in Kosovo side of the border and that Pristina will continue to ask Belgrade to allow them to be distributed to schools. Guri added that education minister Arsim Bajrami will ask the Serbian government to respect an agreement reached last September, when Kosovo and Serbia agreed to exchange school books for minorities in each other’s countries. “Minister Bajrami will continue to ask Belgrade to respect the agreement. They have undertaken an obligation and they have to fulfil it,” Guri told BIRN. According to a deal reached in September last year, Pristina was supposed to supply school textbooks to Albanian communities in Serbia while Belgrade was supposed to do the same for Serbs in Kosovo - the first time that the two sides had come to such an agreement since the war ended in 1999. But the Belgrade government said that the books contain material that is unacceptable in Serbia. “You want textbooks from Kosovo or Albania to be used in Serbia, and you want [pupils in Serbia] to be taught that Kosovo is independent… That will not be possible,” Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said in December. Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has also said that textbooks describing late Kosovo Liberation Army fighter Adem Jashari as a national hero cannot be used in Serbian schools. Ethnic Albanians in Presevo staged a protest last month, calling for the books to be released from the customs terminal. Since the beginning of the school year, ethnic Albanian pupils in the Presevo Valley have been without textbooks, seriously impairing pupils' education, Serbia’s National Council of Albanians has argued. According to Serbia’s 2002 census, 61,467 Albanians lived in Serbia. Most Albanians boycotted the 2011 census, so the current number is unknown. A significant number are thought to have emigrated to Kosovo or to Western Europe in recent years, but they still make up the overwhelming majority of the population of Presevo.

 

Europe seen on cusp of new humanitarian crisis at Greece-Macedonia border (Reuters, by Stephanie Nebehay and Gabriela Baczynska, 1 March 2016)

GENEVA/BRUSSELS The build-up of thousands of migrants and refugees on Greece's northern borders is fast turning into a humanitarian disaster, the United Nations said on Tuesday as the European Union prepared to offer more financial aid. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said clashes at Greece's border with Macedonia on Monday - when migrants battered down a gate and were tear-gassed - simply underlined the urgency with which the EU needed to act on the crisis.

But Austria - which last month limited the number of migrants it lets through to 3,200 a day - stuck to its position that it did not want to become an overcrowded waiting room for thousands wanting to make it further north. Croatia, which is also on what is now the well-trodden migrants route northwards from Greece, said it might deploy its armed forces to help police control flows.

But near Idomeni, on the Greek-Macedonian border itself, a tent city mushroomed, prompting some despair among those trapped there. "Macedonian police put us here, the Greeks don't want us back," Yase Qued, a 16-year-old from Afghanistan, told Reuters. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) called for better planning and accommodation for at least 24,000 it said were stuck in Greece, including 8,500 at Idomeni. "Europe is on the cusp of a largely self-induced humanitarian crisis," U.N. refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards told a news briefing. "The crowded conditions are leading to shortages of food, shelter, water and sanitation. As we all saw yesterday, tensions have been building, fuelling violence and playing into the hands of people smugglers," he said. Migrants have become stranded in Greece since Austria and other countries along the Balkans migration corridor imposed restrictions on their borders, limiting the numbers able to cross. Police chiefs from Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia, meeting in Belgrade, agreed to improve the system of joint registration of refugees to unblock gridlocks in Greece. The burgeoning crisis adds to last year's chaos when more than a million migrants and refugees arrived in the EU, many fleeing the war in Syria and walking from Turkey northwards. Around 131,000 have reached the continent so far in 2016.

CRISIS AID

The European Commission, the EU executive, said it would float a plan on Wednesday to offer emergency financial aid for humanitarian crises inside the 28-nation bloc - comparable with operations it has launched elsewhere in the world. Officials said the Commission plan would allocate 300 million euros ($325 million) this year to helping any EU state, not only Greece, deal with such crises, and 700 million in all over the three years to the end of 2018. The Greek government said it had asked the Commission for 480 million euros worth of assistance, including ambulances, blankets and personnel to help with 100,000 asylum seekers.

Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker spoke to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and European Council President Donald Tusk was on a visit to Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Greece and Turkey. Tusk's tour comes ahead of a special European Union summit on the crisis next Monday. Germany's Merkel said television pictures of migrants desperate to make their way into western Europe via the Balkans drove home the urgency of the summit.

"The pictures show us clearly every day that there is a need for talks," she said after meeting Croatian Prime Minister Tihomir Oreskovic in Berlin. "We also naturally need to deal with the very difficult situation in Greece and see how we can fulfil what the (European) Commission demanded from us, namely to end the politics of waving people through and to return to the Schengen system as soon as possible and to the greatest possible extent." The difficulty of reaching agreement on an issue which goes to the heart of public fears for security and safety in many countries was underlined by Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann, who honed in on comments from German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere that suggested he thought Austria might wave through too many migrants.

"What is not acceptable is to say that they should definitely come and then the interior minister says he is against waving people through (to Germany)," Faymann told a news conference after a weekly cabinet meeting. "Then how should they go to Germany?" The UNHCR, meanwhile, urged all EU member states to reinforce their capacity to register and process asylum seekers through their national procedures as well as through an EU relocation scheme. "Greece cannot manage this situation alone," Edwards said. Despite commitments to relocate 66,400 refugees from Greece, EU member states have so far pledged just 1,539 spaces and only 325 people actually have been relocated, he added.

(Additional reporting by Lefteris Papadimas in Idomeni, Francois Murphy in Vienna, Aleksandar Vasovic in Belgrade, Paul Carrel in Berlin and Alastair Macdonald in Brussels; Writing by Jeremy Gaunt; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

 

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Media summaries are produced for the internal use of the United Nations Office in Belgrade, UNMIK and UNHQ. The contents do not represent anything other than a selection of articles likely to be of interest to a United Nations readership.