Calls grow for EU countries to share refugee burden

Date: 01/04/1999

By Gareth Harding

THE humanitarian crisis engulfing Kosovo has sparked fresh calls for EU member states to share the burden of care for refugees fleeing the war-torn Yugoslav province.

Faced with the prospect of tens of thousands of asylum-seekers knocking at its gates, Italy declared a state of emergency last week and called on fellow Union members to help it cope with the impending flood of refugees.

German Interior Minister Otto Schily also joined in the fray, demanding

that if refugees did have to be accommodated in western Europe, then the "burden should be fairly shared".

Until now, most Union governments have firmly resisted this call. But as more and more countries are affected by the unfolding drama, the clamour is growing for an EU solution to the problem.

One German official said that, as a result of the war in Kosovo, "those arguing in favour of burden-sharing have a stronger argument", although he added: "Whether those opposed will buy it is another matter."

According to NATO, almost half a million people have been displaced inside Kosovo and 50,000 more have fled to neighbouring countries.

Although no EU countries border the tiny Yugoslav province, thousands of refugees are expected to stream through Macedonia to Greece and via Albania to Italy in the coming weeks.

At the Berlin summit last week, Union leaders warned that "on the eve of the 21st century, Europe cannot tolerate a humanitarian catastrophe in its midst". Rather than offering to welcome refugees with open arms, however, heads of state said they had a "duty to ensure the return to their homes of hundreds of thousands of refugees and displaced persons".

So far, the EU's emergency aid organisation ECHO has cleared only €12 million of the 20 million earmarked for Kosovo this year, with €10 million of this freed up earlier this week to help neighbouring countries cope with the enormous numbers of refugees now flooding across their borders.

The Commission has also announced that an additional h15 million allocated to the province under the Rambouillet peace plan will be diverted to these countries.

Acting Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Emma Bonino and German Deputy Foreign Minister Günter Verheugen left Brussels yesterday (31 March) on a fact-finding mission to Albania and Macedonia to review the situation on the ground. The idea of holding a special donors' conference, possibly as early as next week, has also been floated.

The European Council on Refugees and Exiles insists that more needs to be done to protect refugees. In a letter to Schily, it called on the Union to "do everything to make it possible for refugees from Kosovo to reach countries where they can find safety". The group called on EU member states to show solidarity with Macedonia by taking their share of displaced persons.