Five Balkan countries strengthen border control together

The directors of the Croatian, Macedonian, Austrian, Slovenian and Serbian Police agreed to introduce a common registration of the refugees entering Macedonia from Greece. Moreover, the joint teams will carry out a complete identification and take biometric data of the migrants coming from danger countries such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The decision whether these people should receive a refugee status will be taken in Austria or in any other country of their final destination.

Tsipras accuses Czech Republic of committing unfriendly act

Greece’s Premier Alexis Tsipras described the decision of the Czech Republic to send Army and Police officers to the Macedonia- Greece border as “un unfriendly act”. In Brussels Premier Tsipras presented to the European countries Greece’s progress in the refugee crisis field. Tsipras described Austria’s decision to receive 80 immigrants a day only as a lack of solidarity with the process aimed at solving the refugee crisis.

Macedonia ahead of new crisis with regard to media issue

Expert teams of the four main political parties in Macedonia failed to reach an agreement aimed at securing conditions for existence of free and independent media in that country. After seven hours of long talks the international mediator Belgian expert Peter Vanhoutte commented that at this stage the situation was in complete standstill and the parties voiced different positions on most issues. The main problems are related to the structure of the Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services and the programme structure of the public Macedonian Radio Television. The parties did not reach an agreement on the proposal for complete ban of the government commercials in the media.

Turkey’s Premier Davutoglu accuses Syrian Kurds of committing terrorist attack in Ankara

Turkey’s Premier Ahmet Davutoglu announced that a man of Syrian origin connected with the People’s Protection Units (the Yekineyen Parastina Gel, YPG) was the perpetrator of the recent terrorist attack in Ankara. The aggressor “received assistance from soldiers from the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) in Turkey”. The Democratic Union Party of the Syrian Kurds (Partiya Yekitiya Democrat, PYD), whose military wing is YPD, refused to take responsibility for the two powerful explosions which shook Ankara, killing twenty eight and wounding over sixty people.

Albania ready to contribute to process aimed at solving refugee crisis

Albania’s Premier Edi Rama told the Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly in Tirana that the Mediterranean countries had to cooperate and coordinate their efforts, in order to deal with the challenges related to the migrant crisis. Premier Rama underlined that the countries should coordinate efforts and exchange experience in the fight against the reasons which lead to the huge refugee wave in Europe. The countries should also find the reasons behind the increased number of extremist attacks, Premier Edi Rama further said. He made it clear that his country was ready to contribute to the process aimed at resolving the migrant crisis.

Serbia getting ready to accommodate 6,000 refugees

The Serbian government is developing a plan for accommodation of 6,000 refugees in fifteen to eighteen towns and cities, Interfax agency informs. According to the Serbian newspaper Danas, this is a very delicate topic taking into consideration the circumstance that the local authorities are not prepared to receive a large number of refugees and are inclined to organize protests.