The Vienna-held conference on the future of the West Balkans had already started, when the news came – at least 70 refugees had suffocated to death in an abandoned fridge truck near the Austrian – Hungarian border. One way or another the forum participants had expected that exactly the refugee crisis would be accentuated on during the conference – but not in that way.

The news is shocking, but it’s not new. The refugee wave has been crawling for years. The southern EU member-states used to struggle with the incoming migrants on their own till recently. Italy, Greece and Bulgaria warned yet after the start of the Syrian civil war that Europe was facing a serious problem which could be solved on a joint basis only. However, the unpleasant subject couldn’t make its way through Brussels’ agenda. Quotas and the solidarity-based distribution of the burden were mentioned barely after the refugee wave had reached the inside of the continent. However, there is still no decision. Maybe we can expect some movement now, when powerful Germany expects 800,000 refugees and Chancellor Merkel declared the urgent need of a new common EU migration policy. We remember such a movement at the dawn of the debt crisis in Europe, when banks had to be saved and the European currency had to be stabilized. Rescue programs were prepared and urgent preventive measures taken. Money was saved back then, but now lives need saving and Europe seems to be more parted then ever. States like England, Poland and the Baltic republics don’t seem to notice the southern refugee wave issue. Exhausted by its own crisis, Greece simply lets the thousands cross its territory. Hungary builds up a fence, while Germany, Austria and Sweden are forced to accept refugees, as the prevailing majority of those wants to live precisely there. 6 West Balkan states are willing to enter the EU and the situation will barely push them away. Bulgaria has many times stated its support for the EU expansion across the Balkans. After the dramatic development of the refugee situation in Macedonia and the state of emergency declared, Bulgaria declared that it would lobby in Brussels for financial, logistical and any other support for Macedonia. That could have happened at the Vienna-held conference, where options for coping with the crisis were discussed. Unfortunately this country didn’t have its representatives there.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev