Yesterday the European Union decided to allocate $1 billion to the UN agencies which provide support to Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, and to welcome another 120 thousand people to the EU countries. UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon called the steps right, but called for greater efforts to be made for a settlement of the crises and conflicts which have made about 500 thousand people migrate to Europe. 54% of them came from Syria, 13% from Afghanistan, 7% from Eritrea.
The migration crisis in Europe is forcing European states to seek unusual measures to protect their borders. According to unconfirmed information, yesterday police in Croatia tried to return a big group of refugees to Serbia, organizing a crossing of the Danube. They were frightened away by Serbian policemen on patrol boats; but this was a separate incident in a series of contradictions between the countries which are receiving the migrants.
Slavenko Terzic, Serbian Ambassador to Russia, thinks that “the European Union should help not only Serbia, but also Greece, Macedonia and all the other countries through which this corridor of migrants is passing. Most importantly, the fate of these people should be resolved in some normal, humane way, so they are accommodated, or maybe a situation could be created in which they return to Syria, Iraq and other countries. The international community must do everything so that in the Middle East, above all, there would be peace, so that these actions are stopped and peace is restored.”
Speaking about the question of multiculturalism, Terzic said: “In the framework of the system of European values, the European Union and Europe in general constantly stressed that we must live in a multicultural and multiethnic society. I fully agree with this, but it is clear that today, in this sense, this wave of migrants raises many questions in the European societies themselves. On the one hand, the influence of right-wing parties and groups is increasing, and it is not a good thing. On the other hand, the concept of tolerance is facing a big challenge right now. Serbia and other countries need to remain consistent with European values such as tolerance, open borders, a multicultural, multiethnic society, religious tolerance, ethnic tolerance. I want to say that in Serbia, although there are many Muslims, there was no incident on any ethnic or racial basis.”
