EU Chief: Migrant flood is just beginning--we need to close doors & windows #SecureTheBorders http://t.co/qH3WR4WFS9 pic.twitter.com/8acoJU1VDk— Linda Suhler, Ph.D. (@LindaSuhler) September 24, 2015Britain Rejects European Union Refugee Demand
British Prime Minister David Cameron is standing behind his government’s decision not to sign on to the European Union’s plan to take in 120,000 refugees.
The deal, which was agreed upon on Tuesday by E.U. member states that are bound to recognize the body’s migration policy, aims to distribute the migrants evenly among European countries. However, it comes with the cost of foisting mandatory migrant quotas on each member state. The quotas were a problem for Cameron and the United Kingdom — which is not bound by E.U. migration and asylum policy — refused to participate in the negotiations, according to the Daily Express.
“If all the focus is on redistributing quotas of refugees around Europe, that won’t solve the problem and it actually sends a message to people that actually it’s a good idea to get on a boat and make that perilous journey,” Cameron told British parliament September 9, according to Agence France-Presse. “Europe has to reach its own answers, for those countries that are part of Schengen. Britain, which has its own borders, has the ability to make sovereign decisions.”
Cameron’s decision not to accept the terms of the deal has angered Germany. One leading German politician warned that there would be repercussions for the refusal, particularly when it comes to discussing E.U. migration laws that the United Kingdom wants reformed. [...]
Migrant crisis turns clock back on Serbia, Croatia ties
Former Yugoslav foes Serbia and Croatia turned back the clock on 15 years of reconciliation on Thursday, trading embargoes and insults as Europe’s migrant crisis damaged relations in the fragile Western Balkans.
With relations hitting their lowest ebb since Serbia came in from the cold with the ouster of late strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, the Balkan neighbours exchanged tit-for-tat sanctions that saw Croatian goods and cargo vehicles banned from entering Serbia and Serbian-registered vehicles barred from entering Croatia from Serbia.
Croatia, which fought a 1991-95 war against Belgrade-backed Serb rebels to forge its independence from communist Yugoslavia, is demanding Serbia stop directing tens of thousands of migrants exclusively over their joint border, saying it cannot keep pace with the influx.
Amid conflicting information from both sides, Serbian citizens were also being turned back at the Croatian border, witnesses said, though Croatia’s interior minister blamed a glitch in the computer system.
Serbia was unconvinced, and in language that reached back to the collapse of their joint Yugoslav state two decades ago, the Foreign Ministry compared the Croatian measures to the racial laws enforced by its World War Two-era Nazi puppet regime.
"In their discriminatory character, they can only be compared with measures taken in the past, during the fascist Independent Croatia,” the ministry said in a statement.
About 500 migrants have been stranded at a Christian Orthodox cemetery in no man's land between Serbia and Croatia.
Croatian police on Thursday blocked their entry from Serbia near the Tovarnik border crossing, which has been one of the main entry points for migrants as they seek to continue their hazardous journey toward Western Europe.
The influx of mainly Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans has caused tensions between Balkan rivals Serbia and Croatia, with countries criticizing each other over border closures and traffic blockades.
Croatia is blaming Serbia for busing migrants to the Croatian border, instead of channeling them further north toward Hungary.
Croatian police say more than 51,000 migrants have entered the country since they first started arriving more than a week ago.
Police say 3,500 people crossed Thursday morning into Croatia from Serbia around Tovarnik, where migrants have been coming in through nearby cornfields.
The influx has caused tensions between the Balkan rivals, with countries slamming each other with border closures and traffic blockades. The migrants began entering Croatia after Hungary closed its border on Sept. 15.
Croatia says it's so overwhelmed that authorities have been shipping the migrants toward Hungary or Slovenia. Most want to travel on to wealthier nations in Western Europe such as Germany or Sweden.
Hungarian troops have started laying down spools of razor wire at a new border — this time, a crossing with Slovenia.
Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs told The Associated Press on Thursday that the razor wire was being installed near a checkpoint between the Hungarian village of Tornyiszentmiklos and Pince, Slovenia.
State television showed soldiers in thick protective gloves installing the razor wire across hundreds of meters (yards) on the Slovenian border.
Kovacs called it a precautionary measure. But both Hungary and Slovenia are part of the European Union's Schengen zone of passport-free travel, so, theoretically at least, there's no need for border checks or fences between them.
Hungary has already built a 4-meter (13-feet) high fence on its border with Serbia and hopes to finish a similar barrier on the Croatian border shortly. Preparations are also underway to extend the fence along the Romanian border as well.
The fence has succeeded in stopping most migrants from entering Hungary from Serbia but over 10,000 entered Hungary from Croatia on Wednesday.
Merkel, German states agree deal to streamline handling of migrant influx
Chancellor Angela Merkel and Germany's 16 state governors have agreed on measures designed to streamline the country's handling of the migrant influx — including declaring three Balkan countries "safe" states of origin and cutting some cash payments to newcomers.
Merkel said Thursday that Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro will be declared safe countries as part of efforts to reduce the stream of people from those countries who have arrived. The agreement calls for "pocket money" paid to people at initial reception centers to be switched to benefits in kind.
The federal government is pledging to shoulder many of the financial risks of the influx, relieving state and municipal authorities. And the deal would enable making exceptions to cumbersome construction planning rules.
The package will take effect Nov. 1.
