“Serbia, EU to initial visa agreement soon”

A year on since the Montenegrin referendum, they still haven't replaced armed forces with border police and they still haven't printed new EU-friendly travel documents for Serbian citizens. One can blame the EU for many things but not for travel restrictions. It is becoming clearer every day the American-backed DS/LDP neo Liberals are the biggest obstacle to Serbia's EU integration. They are blocking everyone and everything.

you seem to have your facts exactly backwards - the DS/LDP havent had any power in SErbia since Djindic died. If you want to blame a party for stalling, dissembling and a do-nothing public policy - look to DSS and no further. As long as Kostunica is PM - and it looks like he will be for along time.. - Serbia is going nowhere, fast.

The EU claims that many illegal migrants entered the EU through Serbia. They want to return these migrants to Serbia.

The problem is that these migrants are not from Serbia, they are Asians and Africans who travelled through Serbia (often hidden in the back of trucks) on their way to Hungary.

These migrants arrived in Serbia through other EU countries (Romania, Bulgaria and Greece (via FYR of Macedonia).

The Economy minister Predrag Bubalo, said “We have agreed that in the case of their return to their country of residence, Serbia will only be the transit state."

But since these migrants obviously travelled through Serbia from one EU country to another, why should the EU want to return them via the same route? Why doesn't the EU simply put them on a plane from Germany to Athens, Bucharest and Sofia skipping Serbia altogether?

The answer is obvious. Greece, Romania and Bulgaria will not accept the migrants unless they can be immediately "dumped" on another country, most likely Turkey. But this is very unlikely to happen.

In the EU's plan, Serbia would accept hundreds of thousands of Asians and Africans with the expectation that Serbia will be "the transit state" between the EU and the migrants' country of origin. But "transit" to where?

It is ludicrous for anyone to believe that the EU would expel migrants on the Hungarian border only to readmit them on the Bulgarian border.

Serbia would be mad to accept any "returned" Asians or Africans.

@european
Feel free to ignore the ideological chasm that exists between the Serb Conservative movement (pro European unity, anti NATO Pact) and the USUK-sponsored Neo Liberal movement (pro EU-after-every-Serb-state-asset-is-sold-off, pro NATO Pact). This ideological European public divide is not typical to Serbia and can be echoed in the French elections aswell as the current political turmoil in Italy where many want out of the NATO Pact.

Đinđić was a conservative. Tadić is anything but.

Koštunica's policies follow Đinđić's vision of Serbia better than any other current Serb leader. How competent he is at adopting these policies is the subject for another debate.

From a purely economic perspective it may be more advantageous for Serbia to have 1 million unemployed Serbs working illegally in the EU/EFTA countries and remitting BILLIONS of euros to Serbia on an annual basis for the next 10 years until Serbia will actually be a full fledged member if membership is actually the goal of Serbia) than to agree to repatriation of its citizens who cannot be productive in Serbia due to lack of meaningful employment.Making travel easier for select groups of Serbs will not bring money INTO the Serbian economy.As far as citizens of third countries there is no reason for Serbia to agree to accept any for whatever reason regardless of their point of origin or what transit route they took to arrive into the EU countries.

Michael,
The reason why they want to return them to Srbia is that they want Serbia to watch their borders more carefully from now on.

@luciano
Serbia's problem with the EU is clearly not economic but ideological. How else can one explain the bizzare acceptance of Romania and Bulgaria in the EU ahead of Serbia. Not to mention a Croatia that has bent over backwards to every EU demand and is still not in the EU. They won't be for a long time to come because Dalmatia's borders, in their current state, are impossible to enforce.

The Serb church is supported economically by the West "good afternoon". Why wont people like you point that out?

A year on since the Montenegrin referendum, they still haven't replaced armed forces with border police and they still haven't printed new EU-friendly travel documents for Serbian citizens. One can blame the EU for many things but not for travel restrictions. It is becoming clearer every day the American-backed DS/LDP neo Liberals are the biggest obstacle to Serbia's EU integration. They are blocking everyone and everything.

you seem to have your facts exactly backwards - the DS/LDP havent had any power in SErbia since Djindic died. If you want to blame a party for stalling, dissembling and a do-nothing public policy - look to DSS and no further. As long as Kostunica is PM - and it looks like he will be for along time.. - Serbia is going nowhere, fast.

The EU claims that many illegal migrants entered the EU through Serbia. They want to return these migrants to Serbia.

The problem is that these migrants are not from Serbia, they are Asians and Africans who travelled through Serbia (often hidden in the back of trucks) on their way to Hungary.

These migrants arrived in Serbia through other EU countries (Romania, Bulgaria and Greece (via FYR of Macedonia).

The Economy minister Predrag Bubalo, said “We have agreed that in the case of their return to their country of residence, Serbia will only be the transit state."

But since these migrants obviously travelled through Serbia from one EU country to another, why should the EU want to return them via the same route? Why doesn't the EU simply put them on a plane from Germany to Athens, Bucharest and Sofia skipping Serbia altogether?

The answer is obvious. Greece, Romania and Bulgaria will not accept the migrants unless they can be immediately "dumped" on another country, most likely Turkey. But this is very unlikely to happen.

In the EU's plan, Serbia would accept hundreds of thousands of Asians and Africans with the expectation that Serbia will be "the transit state" between the EU and the migrants' country of origin. But "transit" to where?

It is ludicrous for anyone to believe that the EU would expel migrants on the Hungarian border only to readmit them on the Bulgarian border.

Serbia would be mad to accept any "returned" Asians or Africans.

@european
Feel free to ignore the ideological chasm that exists between the Serb Conservative movement (pro European unity, anti NATO Pact) and the USUK-sponsored Neo Liberal movement (pro EU-after-every-Serb-state-asset-is-sold-off, pro NATO Pact). This ideological European public divide is not typical to Serbia and can be echoed in the French elections aswell as the current political turmoil in Italy where many want out of the NATO Pact.

Đinđić was a conservative. Tadić is anything but.

Koštunica's policies follow Đinđić's vision of Serbia better than any other current Serb leader. How competent he is at adopting these policies is the subject for another debate.

From a purely economic perspective it may be more advantageous for Serbia to have 1 million unemployed Serbs working illegally in the EU/EFTA countries and remitting BILLIONS of euros to Serbia on an annual basis for the next 10 years until Serbia will actually be a full fledged member if membership is actually the goal of Serbia) than to agree to repatriation of its citizens who cannot be productive in Serbia due to lack of meaningful employment.Making travel easier for select groups of Serbs will not bring money INTO the Serbian economy.As far as citizens of third countries there is no reason for Serbia to agree to accept any for whatever reason regardless of their point of origin or what transit route they took to arrive into the EU countries.

Michael,
The reason why they want to return them to Srbia is that they want Serbia to watch their borders more carefully from now on.

@luciano
Serbia's problem with the EU is clearly not economic but ideological. How else can one explain the bizzare acceptance of Romania and Bulgaria in the EU ahead of Serbia. Not to mention a Croatia that has bent over backwards to every EU demand and is still not in the EU. They won't be for a long time to come because Dalmatia's borders, in their current state, are impossible to enforce.

The Serb church is supported economically by the West "good afternoon". Why wont people like you point that out?