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Tag: Bosnia and Herzegovina

  • Bosnia’s mountain resorts pivot to summer tourism as climate changes

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    SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — A short drive from the Mediterranean coast, mid-altitude mountain resorts near Sarajevo — traditionally dependent on snow sports — are slowly but steadily pivoting to attract summertime tourists.

    Despite Bosnia’s notoriously poor record-keeping, tourism officials in the mountainous Balkan country of 3.3 million say a clear trend is emerging.

    “We used to rely on snow, but there is no escaping the fact that snow is now likely to fall and accumulate at altitudes above 2,500 meters (8,000 feet) and our mountains are simply not that high,” said Haris Fazlagic, the Sarajevo tourism board president.

    Fazlagic believes that by expanding their summer offerings, mountain resorts can lure tourists away from the scorching heat and high costs of traditional seaside vacations along the Adriatic coast of Croatia and Montenegro. He said increasing the area’s year-round appeal is “the future of tourism,” but acknowledged it’s a long-term strategy.

    In 2017, after several winters with little snow, the Jahorina and Bjelasnica mountains near Sarajevo began to expand their summer offerings. These mountains, which hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics, have elevations of 1,906 meters (6,253 feet) and 2,067 meters (6,781 feet), respectively.

    They now operate ski lifts year-round for scenic views and are steadily adding new hiking, biking and ATV trails and tours.

    “The weather here is fantastic — it’s not hot at all,” said Dusko Kurtovic, a visitor from the Bosnian town of Doboj, while on a walk during a short vacation in Jahorina last week.

    Like other visitors exploring the forest trails and riding ski lifts around Sarajevo, Kurtovic was dressed for balmy summer weather. Temperatures here typically stay between 24 and 30 degrees Celsius (75-86 degrees Fahrenheit).

    The weather is a welcome change for tourists, as coastal regions in Central and Eastern Europe have experienced increasingly frequent and prolonged heat waves, with daily temperatures often reaching 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in the past few years.

    Vasilije Knezevic, who leads quad tours of Jahorina’s highest peaks, noted that while the ski season was “bleak” because of the snow shortage, they are “having a fabulous summer so far.”

    Business might be growing in the mountains of Sarajevo, but it remains far less profitable than seaside destinations in neighboring Croatia, where tourism accounts for up to 20% of the country’s gross domestic product.

    Just a five-hour drive from Sarajevo, the ancient city of Dubrovnik is grappling with an abundance of tourists. Unlike their Bosnian counterparts who are trying to increase visitors, Dubrovnik’s tourism authorities are focused on managing crowds, limiting the number of tourists from cruise ships in the city to 4,000 at any one time during the day and restricting traffic around the Old Town to local permit holders.

    Despite these restrictions and extreme summer heat, Dubrovnik recorded nearly two million overnight stays in the first seven months of 2025, almost double that of the Sarajevo region.

    While climate change is driving Bosnia and Croatia toward different tourism strategies, both countries share a common objective: to “extend the season” and become a “year-round tourist destination,” in the words of Aida Hodzic of the Dubrovnik tourism board.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Sabina Niksic in Sarajevo contributed.

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  • EU leader praises Serbia for its advances in EU membership bid despite growing Russian influence

    EU leader praises Serbia for its advances in EU membership bid despite growing Russian influence

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    BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday praised the Serbian president for meeting her and other European Union leaders instead of attending a Russia-organized summit of developing economies held earlier this week.

    Serbia has close ties to Russia and has refused to join international sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. In a telephone conversation Sunday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, populist Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said EU candidate Serbia would maintain its stance on sanctions, notwithstanding EU and other Western pressure.

    However, despite Putin’s invitation, Vucic did not attend a three-day summit of the BRICS group of nations, led by Russia and China, which took place in the Russian city of Kazan earlier this week. Leaders or representatives of 36 countries took part in the summit, highlighting the failure of U.S.-led efforts to isolate Russia over its actions in Ukraine.

    Vucic sent a high-level delegation to the meeting, but said he could not attend himself because he had scheduled meetings with von der Leyen and Polish and Greek leaders. There are fears in the West that Putin is plotting trouble in the volatile Balkans in part to shift some of the attention from its invasion of Ukraine.

    “What I see is that the president of the Republic of Serbia is hosting me here today and just has hosted the prime minister of Greece and the prime minister of Poland. That speaks for itself, I think,” von der Leyen said at a joint press conference with Vucic.

    “And for my part, I want to say that my presence here today, in the context of my now fourth trip to the Balkan region since I took office, is a very clear sign that I believe that Serbia’s future is in the European Union,” she said.

    Vucic said he knows what the EU is demanding for eventual membership — including compliance with foreign policy goals — but did not pledge further coordination.

    “Of course, Ursula asked for much greater compliance with EU’s foreign policy declaration,” he said. “We clearly know what the demands are, what the expectations are.”

    Von der Leyen was in Serbia as part of a trip this week to aspiring EU member states in the Western Balkans to assure them that EU enlargement remains a priority for the 27-nation bloc. From Serbia, von der Leyen will travel to neighboring Kosovo and Montenegro.

    Serbian media reported that von der Leyen refused to meet with Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic because of his talks Friday with a high-level Russian economic delegation, which was in Belgrade to discuss deepening ties with Serbia. Vucic will meet the Russian officials on Saturday.

    In Bosnia on Friday, von der Leyen promised support for the deeply split Balkan country which is struggling with the reforms needed to advance toward EU membership.

    The Western Balkan countries — Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia — are at different stages in their applications for EU membership. The countries have been frustrated by the slow pace of the process, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has propelled European leaders to push the six to join the bloc.

    Bosnia gained candidate status in 2022. EU leaders in March agreed in principle to open membership negotiations, though Bosnia must still do a lot of work.

    “We share the same vision for the future, a future where Bosnia-Herzegovina is a full-fledged member of the European Union,” said von der Leyen at a joint press conference with Bosnian Prime Minister Bojana Kristo. “So, I would say, let’s continue working on that. We’ve gone a long way already, we still have a way ahead of us, but I am confident that you’ll make it.”

    Last year EU officials offered a 6-billion-euro (about $6.5 billion) growth plan to the Western Balkan countries in an effort to double the region’s economy over the next decade and accelerate their efforts to join the bloc. That aid is contingent on reforms that would bring their economies in line with EU rules.

    The Commission on Wednesday approved the reform agendas of Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia following a green light from EU member states. That was a key step to allow payments under the growth plan upon completion of agreed reform steps.

    However, Bosnia’s reform agenda has still not been signed off by the Commission.

    “The accession process is, as you know, merit-based … we do not look at a rigid data but we look at the merits, the progress that a country is making,” said von der Leyen. “The important thing is that we have an ambitious reform agenda, like the other five Western Balkan countries also have. We stand ready to help you to move forward.”

    Long after a 1992-95 ethnic war that killed more than 100,000 people and left millions homeless, Bosnia remains ethnically divided and politically deadlocked. An ethnic Serb entity — one of Bosnia’s two equal parts joined by a common government — has sought to gain as much independence as possible.

    Upon arrival in Bosnia, von der Leyen on Thursday first went to Donja Jablanica, a village in central Bosnia that was devastated in recent floods and landslides. The disaster in early October claimed 27 lives and the small village was virtually buried in rocks from a quarry located on a hill above.

    Von der Leyen said the EU is sending an immediate aid package of 20 million euros ($21 million) and will also provide support for reconstruction later on.

    —-

    AP writer Jovana Gec contributed from Belgrade.

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  • Bosnian ski resorts suffer as Europe sees record warm winter

    Bosnian ski resorts suffer as Europe sees record warm winter

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    SARAJEVO, Bosnia (AP) — The new year’s festivities are over in Bosnia, and visitors to the country’s winter resorts are packing to go home. Spring-like temperatures have left little or no snow on the mountains, and it’s unclear when the next visitors will arrive.

    The small Balkan country of 3.3 million is among several in Europe facing a ski season slump amid balmy climes that have swept much of the continent as 2023 begins. Along the slopes in Bjelasnica near Sarajevo on Wednesday, snow accumulation amounted to little more than several white patches on an otherwise grassy landscape of brown and green.

    Record-high daily temperatures for this time of year have been beaten — at times obliterated — in recent days at hundreds of meteorological reading stations in at least 11 countries: Bosnia, Belarus, Belgium, Czechia, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland.

    Belarus, Belgium, Czechia, Latvia, Poland and the Netherlands set national record daily highs for a Dec. 31 or Jan. 1.

    The U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization has long warned about the ill-effects of climate change, and say the last eight years have been the eight hottest on record. The fallout this winter hasn’t been limited to snowless slopes, where mid-range altitudes have been affected most of all: Weather officials and scientists say flora and fauna are feeling the impact too.

    Meteorologist Florian Imbery of Germany’s national weather service, DWD, said the temperature anomaly seen over the new year period could trigger unwanted plant growth — exposing crops to greater risk of frost damage later in the winter.

    Biologist Livio Rey, spokesman for the Swiss Ornithological Institute, said many ducks that would normally migrate to Switzerland this time of year from Nordic countries don’t come anymore, like the tufted duck.

    Up in countries like Finland, “they find food because the lakes aren’t freezing” — meaning they can continue to feast on mussels that they devour in warmer seasons, and would normally be inaccessible because of ice in wintertime, Rey said by phone.

    While the warm spell has been hard on businesses depending on snow sports, higher temperatures have brought some relief in Europe’s struggle with high energy prices. Short term natural gas prices, while still high by historical comparison, are now lower than they were before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

    Russia’s move to cut off most pipeline supplies to Europe sent prices as high as 342 euros per megawatt hour in August. On Wednesday the price was around 69 euros per megawatt hour, down from 88 euros on the eve of the invasion in February.

    The warm spell reduces demand for gas heat and gas-generated electricity, easing fears of government-imposed rationing that would further hurt the European economy.

    But the record recent warmth has meant cold comfort for medium-altitude ski resorts like those in Bosnia, which have been feeling the pinch while the highest-mountain peaks have still seen snow.

    On Vlasic Mountain, near the central town of Zenica, tourists packed up for an early return home amid spring-like temperatures. Hotel owners say bookings are down, and with them both room prices and staffing levels. Tourism officials said vacationers are forced to seek alternatives to skiing, like hiking on grassy mountaintops — or riding ski lifts, just for the views.

    “Right now, when we should be welcoming skiers on our mountain, we have no snow so there is no doubt that our business will falter, that is to be expected,” said Dino Korugic, manager of the Sunce hotel in Vlasic. “Our bookings correlate strongly with (the) weather forecast.”

    Germany’s DWD said a low pressure front over Britain and Scandinavia carried a “very lively” current of warm, subtropical air to central Europe. Since ocean temperatures are still very warm, this resulted in unprecedented high temperatures around the New Year — and double-digit Celsius daytime temperatures (at least 50 degrees Fahrenheit) across much of the continent.

    The German weather service recorded more than 300 new station records for January on New Year’s Day. For December as a whole, temperatures in Germany were 1.8 degrees C higher than the 30-year average from 1961-1990.

    David Dehenauw, head of forecasting at Belgium’s Royal Meteorological Institute, said the country had its warmest New Year’s Eve on record, with a minimum of 13.4 degrees Celsius in south Brussels from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. — 3 degrees higher than the previous record in 2012.

    In Czechia, the eastern city of Javornik tallied a new New Year’s Day record of 19.6 Celsius (67 F) — eclipsing the previous high mark that was set a year ago in northwestern Kopisty by nearly 4 C.

    In Bosnia and elsewhere, man-made solutions to fight the heat and keep slopes open weren’t holding up under what some call the “green winter”: Either it’s too warm to make artificial snow, or it melts soon after being spit out onto the slopes.

    Srdjan Stevanovic, ski competitions consultant for the Jahorina ski resort near Sarajevo, said its managers started churning out artificial snow at the end of November to prepare for the mid-December opening of the ski season, but the warm weather has thwarted their efforts.

    “Despite the most modern snowmaking system, installation of new ski-lifts and gondolas, God and nature proved stronger than us and made it impossible to make snow for our guests,” he said.

    ___

    Keaten reported from Geneva. Vojislav Stjepanovic in Jahorina, Bosnia; Almir Alic in Vlasic, Bosnia; David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany; Frank Jordans in Berlin, Samuel Petrequin in Brussels and AP reporters across Europe contributed to this report.

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  • Bosnian ski resorts suffer as Europe sees record warm winter

    Bosnian ski resorts suffer as Europe sees record warm winter

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    SARAJEVO, Bosnia — The new year’s festivities are over in Bosnia, and visitors to the country’s winter resorts are packing to go home. Spring-like temperatures have left little or no snow on the mountains, and it’s unclear when the next visitors will arrive.

    The small Balkan country of 3.3 million is among several in Europe facing a ski season slump amid balmy climes that have swept much of the continent as 2023 begins. Along the slopes in Bjelasnica near Sarajevo on Wednesday, snow accumulation amounted to little more than several white patches on an otherwise grassy landscape of brown and green.

    Record-high daily temperatures for this time of year have been beaten — at times obliterated — in recent days at hundreds of meteorological reading stations in at least 11 countries: Bosnia, Belarus, Belgium, Czechia, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland.

    Belarus, Belgium, Czechia, Latvia, Poland and the Netherlands set national record daily highs for a Dec. 31 or Jan. 1.

    The U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization has long warned about the ill-effects of climate change, and say the last eight years have been the eight hottest on record. The fallout this winter hasn’t been limited to snowless slopes, where mid-range altitudes have been affected most of all: Weather officials and scientists say flora and fauna are feeling the impact too.

    Meteorologist Florian Imbery of Germany’s national weather service, DWD, said the temperature anomaly seen over the new year period could trigger unwanted plant growth — exposing crops to greater risk of frost damage later in the winter.

    Biologist Livio Rey, spokesman for the Swiss Ornithological Institute, said many ducks that would normally migrate to Switzerland this time of year from Nordic countries don’t come anymore, like the tufted duck.

    Up in countries like Finland, “they find food because the lakes aren’t freezing” — meaning they can continue to feast on mussels that they devour in warmer seasons, and would normally be inaccessible because of ice in wintertime, Rey said by phone.

    While the warm spell has been hard on businesses depending on snow sports, higher temperatures have brought some relief in Europe’s struggle with high energy prices. Short term natural gas prices, while still high by historical comparison, are now lower than they were before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

    Russia’s move to cut off most pipeline supplies to Europe sent prices as high as 342 euros per megawatt hour in August. On Wednesday the price was around 69 euros per megawatt hour, down from 88 euros on the eve of the invasion in February.

    The warm spell reduces demand for gas heat and gas-generated electricity, easing fears of government-imposed rationing that would further hurt the European economy.

    But the record recent warmth has meant cold comfort for medium-altitude ski resorts like those in Bosnia, which have been feeling the pinch while the highest-mountain peaks have still seen snow.

    On Vlasic Mountain, near the central town of Zenica, tourists packed up for an early return home amid spring-like temperatures. Hotel owners say bookings are down, and with them both room prices and staffing levels. Tourism officials said vacationers are forced to seek alternatives to skiing, like hiking on grassy mountaintops — or riding ski lifts, just for the views.

    “Right now, when we should be welcoming skiers on our mountain, we have no snow so there is no doubt that our business will falter, that is to be expected,” said Dino Korugic, manager of the Sunce hotel in Vlasic. “Our bookings correlate strongly with (the) weather forecast.”

    Germany’s DWD said a low pressure front over Britain and Scandinavia carried a “very lively” current of warm, subtropical air to central Europe. Since ocean temperatures are still very warm, this resulted in unprecedented high temperatures around the New Year — and double-digit Celsius daytime temperatures (at least 50 degrees Fahrenheit) across much of the continent.

    The German weather service recorded more than 300 new station records for January on New Year’s Day. For December as a whole, temperatures in Germany were 1.8 degrees C higher than the 30-year average from 1961-1990.

    David Dehenauw, head of forecasting at Belgium’s Royal Meteorological Institute, said the country had its warmest New Year’s Eve on record, with a minimum of 13.4 degrees Celsius in south Brussels from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. — 3 degrees higher than the previous record in 2012.

    In Czechia, the eastern city of Javornik tallied a new New Year’s Day record of 19.6 Celsius (67 F) — eclipsing the previous high mark that was set a year ago in northwestern Kopisty by nearly 4 C.

    In Bosnia and elsewhere, man-made solutions to fight the heat and keep slopes open weren’t holding up under what some call the “green winter”: Either it’s too warm to make artificial snow, or it melts soon after being spit out onto the slopes.

    Srdjan Stevanovic, ski competitions consultant for the Jahorina ski resort near Sarajevo, said its managers started churning out artificial snow at the end of November to prepare for the mid-December opening of the ski season, but the warm weather has thwarted their efforts.

    “Despite the most modern snowmaking system, installation of new ski-lifts and gondolas, God and nature proved stronger than us and made it impossible to make snow for our guests,” he said.

    ———

    Keaten reported from Geneva. Vojislav Stjepanovic in Jahorina, Bosnia; Almir Alic in Vlasic, Bosnia; David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany; Frank Jordans in Berlin, Samuel Petrequin in Brussels and AP reporters across Europe contributed to this report.

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  • Chechens in Bosnia seek to dodge Russian draft, reach EU

    Chechens in Bosnia seek to dodge Russian draft, reach EU

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    SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — A group of ethnic Chechens fleeing Russia arrived in Bosnia this week, hoping to use the Balkan country as a launchpad to reach the European Union and avoid getting sent to fight in Ukraine.

    The group of some 50 people, predominantly from Russia’s Chechnya region, congregated near Bosnia’s northwestern border with EU-member Croatia, the Bosnian Security Ministry said Wednesday.

    “They want to reach the European Union because, in their own words, they are fleeing military draft” in Russia, the ministry said in a statement.

    Russians can enter Bosnia without a visa and are permitted to stay in the country for a maximum of 90 days within a 180-day period. But to enter Croatia, which is set to join Europe’s visa-free travel zone, the Schengen Area, on Jan. 1, they must hold a valid visa.

    The ethnic Chechens gathered near the Maljevac border crossing, in the northwest Bosnia’s Krajina region include families with children. Many of the people waiting said they hoped to be allowed into Croatia. However, Croatian border guards mostly appeared to be turning them back.

    According to Bosnian media, the Chechens arrived in Bosnia from Serbia, one of the only countries in Europe with direct flights from Russia during the war.

    The Security Ministry said it would “continue to monitor the situation on the ground and gather detailed information from law enforcement agencies … to propose appropriate measures to maintain a secure situation.”

    Bosnia became a bottleneck for Europe-bound migrants from the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa in 2015, when other nations in the Balkans and central Europe closed off previously established migration paths in the region.

    The Krajina region, which lies partly along a highly porous segment of Bosnia’s border with Croatia, has struggled for years to accommodate transient migrants and refugees, at times leaving thousands of people to sleep outside without access to food, heat or medical care.

    ———

    Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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  • EU, Western Balkans to boost partnership amid Ukraine war

    EU, Western Balkans to boost partnership amid Ukraine war

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    TIRANA, Albania — EU leaders and their Western Balkan counterparts gathered Tuesday for talks aimed at strengthening their partnership as Russia’s war in Ukraine threatens to reshape the geopolitical balance in the region.

    The EU wants to use the one-day summit in Albania’s capital to tell leaders from Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia that they have futures within the wealthy economic bloc and give them concrete signs, rather than just promises, that they will join one day.

    European Council President Charles Michel, who is jointly chairing the summit, hailed it as a “symbolic meeting” that will cement the futures of the six countries within Europe.

    “I am absolutely convinced that the future of our children will be safe and more prosperous with the Western Balkans within the EU, and we are working very hard in order to make progress,” he told reporters.

    As proof of the bloc’s commitment, Michel underscored EU energy support to the region in light of the war’s impact on supplies and prices, as well as a mobile telephone roaming charges agreement.

    Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, has been repeating that stepping up the bloc’s engagement with the six nations is more crucial than ever to maintaining Europe’s security.

    As Europe’s relationship with Russia deteriorates further because of the war, tensions have also mounted in the Balkans and the EU wants to avoid other flashpoints close to its borders.

    “The war is sending shockwaves, it affects everybody, and especially this region,” Borrell told reporters in Tirana, adding that the aim of the summit would be to mitigate the consequences of the war in a neighborhood that was torn by conflicts following the disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

    According to a draft of the declaration to be adopted at the summit, the EU will repeat “its full and unequivocal commitment to the European Union membership perspective of the Western Balkans” and call for an acceleration of accession talks with the incumbents.

    In return, the EU expects full solidarity from its Western Balkans partners and wants them fully aligned with its foreign policies.

    That particular point has been problematic with Serbia, whose president, Aleksandar Vucic, claims he wants to take Serbia into the European Union but has cultivated ties with Russia.

    Although Serbia’s representatives voted in favor of various U.N. resolutions condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Vucic has refused to explicitly condemn Moscow. His country has not joined Western sanctions against Russia over the war.

    “The Western Balkans have decided to embark on the European path, this is a two-way street,” Borrell said. “And we also expect the region to deliver on key reforms, and certainly to show the will to embrace the European Union’s ambition and spirit. Many do, but we see also hesitations.”

    Although the progress of the six nations toward EU membership had stalled recently, there has been some progress over the past few months.

    This summer, the EU started membership negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia following years of delays. And Bosnia moved a small step closer on its path to joining the powerful economic bloc when the commission advised member countries in October to grant it candidate status despite continuing criticism of the way the nation is run.

    Kosovo has only started the first step, with the signing of a Stabilization and Association Agreement. It said it would apply for candidate status later this month.

    The EU last admitted a new member — Croatia, which is also part of the Balkans — in 2013. Before that, Bulgaria and Romania joined in 2007. With the withdrawal of the United Kingdom in 2021, the EU now has 27 member nations.

    “We need the EU to move from words to deeds,” said Kosovo president Vjosa Osmani.

    To help households and businesses weather the impact of Russia’s war on energy and food security, the EU has earmarked one billion euros in grants to the Western Balkans, hoping the money will encourage double the investment.

    Leaders will also discuss migration issues that remains one of Europe’s biggest concerns in light of the number of migrants trying to enter the bloc without authorization via the Western Balkans, notably through Serbia.

    The EU’s border agency Frontex said it had detected more than 22,300 attempted entries in October, nearly three times as many as a year ago.

    Around 500 Frontex officers are working along the EU’s borders with Balkan nations but staff will soon be deployed inside the region itself. Serbia’s border with Hungary is a notorious hotspot. Late last month, a man was shot and wounded and a number of others were detained following reports of a clash between migrants in a town on the Serbian side of the border. Europol police agents will also be sent there.

    One cause of the movements is that Serbia, which wants to join the EU, has not aligned its visa policies with the bloc. People from several countries requiring visas to enter the bloc arrive in Serbia without such paperwork then slip through. Many from Burundi, Tunisia, India, Cuba and Turkey enter the EU this way.

    ———

    Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this story.

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