(Newswire.net — September 26, 2015) — Croatia has opened its border crossings with neighboring Serbia for all traffic, with no restrictions, and on the other side, Serbia lifted its countermeasure. This move comes after European Commission ordered Croatia to behave according to the EU legislation despite the fact that Prime Minister Milanovic stated that Croatia would decide by itself what is in the best interest for the country.
Last weekend, Croatia banned trucks coming from Serbia from entering its territory, as a response to a growing number of Syrian refugees coming from Serbia.
After Hungary built a wall and closed its border to immigrants, people found an alternative route through Croatia. However, the Croatian government accused Serbia of making a deal with Hungary to deliberately reroute all refugees to Croatia.
Surprisingly, Croatia closed its border, not for immigrants but for all trucks coming from the Serbian side towards EU, which directly affected Serbian economy. Eventually, Serbia responded by banning all cargo coming from Croatia, included all products manufactured in Croatia the latest EU member.
The European Commission stepped in, and resolved the issue by condemning its member, and commanding it to immediately open its borders for transport, which Croatia did. Serbia followed by lifting its countermeasure.
Though this event looks like it was no big deal, experts agree that it is significant in many ways. First, EU demonstrated the adamant determination to manage the Syrian refugee crisis, and start to behave as a union. Brushless proposed the number of immigrants every member is obligated to accept, which was greeted by the vast majority of members.
Another significant fact is that this is the first time EU didn’t back its member in a dispute with a non-EU country, which Croatia was counting on. According to experts, the move is a message to other EU members to remember that they share the same country now, and that European Union government would not tolerate unilateral decisions like those Croatia made.
The third effect of the EU move represents bad news for the Croatian Prime Minister, who is at the end of his election campaign for the next mandate. This issues resolve was seen by the Croatian public as a defeat, which could cost the Croatian Prime Minister the election.