Staying warm
Economic barriers put up over management of migrants
ZAGREB, Croatia — Tensions escalated between Serbia and Croatia on Thursday as the two nations struggled to come up with a coherent way to deal with tens of thousands of migrants streaming through the Balkan nations to seek sanctuary in other parts of Europe.
In Brussels, European leaders, having vowed to boost humanitarian aid in response to the refugee crisis, remained divided over how to police the bloc’s frontiers.
Serbia banned imports from Croatia to protest Croatia’s decision to close the border to cargo as the two countries criticized each other for their handling of migrants who are traveling through Serbia then onto Croatia on their way to western Europe. Croatia responded by banning all Serbian-registered vehicles from entering the country.
The increasingly acidic tone of exchanges is reminiscent of that used during the wars that accompanied the disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, when nationalists on both sides capitalized on the country’s economic collapse and fanned ethnic tensions, touching off a bloody conflict that killed tens of thousands.
“We responded with economic measures without disrespect for Croatian citizens. Within 15 minutes, they responded in a way that reminds us of the events from the 1990s, and we wish to forget that,” Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said. “We will not respond to this because I simply do not know how to respond to that and stay an honest and normal person.”
Croatia’s move cut Serbia off from many of its main trading partners in Europe. The decision is costing each nation as much as $1.1 million per day.
The actions underscore the pressure exerted by thousands of people from the Middle East, Africa and Asia who are transiting the Balkans in hopes of making their way to countries such as Germany and Austria.
Relations began unravel-
ing after Hungary closed its border to the migrants on Sept. 15, redirecting the tide of humanity west through Croatia.
Croatia has opened a transit camp in hopes of inserting order into the chaos and to provide the thousands with food, water and medical attention. But people keep coming.
Croatia has shut all but one of its crossings with Serbia to block the surge of people, which continues after 51,000 people entered the country in little more than a week. Croatia is angry that Serbia is busing people to its border rather than sending them north to Hungary.
Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic on Thursday accused Serbia and Hungary of colluding.
“I won’t allow that they make fools out of us and that they are sending all [the migrants] to Croatia,” Milanovic told reporters.
Serbia’s foreign ministry, in a protest note to Croatia, said the latest measures were “discriminatory” against Serbs and compared them to the actions of the German puppet regime in Croatia during World War II.
Almost 200 Croatian companies trade in Serbia — including all of its major supermarket chains. Serbia has only a few dozen trading in Croatia. The main exchanges of goods include food, construction materials and industrial products.
The migrants are caught in the middle.
“They are waiting for buses, they are in hurry, they get nervous, anxious,” said Idriz Besic, an imam from Gunja, Croatia, who was visiting the migrants at the transit camp of Opatovac. “The worst thing is that a lot of families are missing members. They are missing children, wives, brothers. The situation is terrible.”
Meanwhile, the summit in Brussels was the European Union’s third top-level migration strategy session this year, each time with the scale of the problem increasing. Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann drew a parallel with the bloc’s hesitant response to the Greek financial crisis, saying: “We prevented the collapse of the banks, now we have to prevent the collapse of humanity in Europe.”
Refugees pose a global challenge requiring international efforts, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told lawmakers Thursday in the Bundestag, the lower house of Parliament, in a speech outlining the results of the EU summit.
Better border management remained controversial among EU leaders, especially on the sea routes into Greece on the EU’s southeastern flank that have become the main path for Europe-bound refugees from Syria, Iraq and parts of Africa.
Leaders reacted with what European Council President Donald Tusk called “maybe not enthusiasm” to the idea of putting frontier control in the hands of an EU agency. Still, the commission said it will make a proposal by year-end for a European Border and Coast Guard.
EU plans also call for expedited deportations and aid for host countries for refugees, such as Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. The bloc pledged an additional $1.1 billion for United Nations refugee-relief efforts and the World Food Program.