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The Alteration of Discourse Towards Refugees' and Migrants' Flow in Croatia: From Solidarity, Over Security and To Effective Security or Flexible Solidarity?

In mid-September 2015 refugees' and migrants' flow reached the Croatian Eastern borders, after Hungary had closed its border crossings with Serbia, forcing the travellers to look for a new path towards Western Europe. The official stake of the coalitional liberal government of that time was it would help migrants in their trek onward to more affluent European countries. The first stage of the crisis bore predominantly a humanitarian character and was assessed by international human rights organizations (UNHCR primarily) as an adequate humane, and rights-respecting response. Security discourse with respect to refugees' and migrants' flow was initiated by the President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, a conservative politician elected in December 2014, who cohabitated for almost a year with the liberal government of former PM Milanović. The President Kitarović stance towards stopping further migration flow was justified with a high unemployment rate and security aspects. In order to reduce the incentives for migrants to come, but at the same to boost the security of those fleeing their countries with human traffickers and smuggles in the Mediterranean, the EU Member States had started to envisage a number of measures. Croatia, like other countries along the Western Balkans route, was asked to abandon “wave-through” approach and to restore orderly management of borders. As the EU Member State, the country was furthermore asked to insist on the application of EU rules on asylum. The third political discourse on migration flow in Croatia, along those lines of effective security and flexible solidarity, was the one backed by the former Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miro Kovač, who was heading the ministry in a short-term government of the Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković, and by the new Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, who was elected in September 2016. PM Plenković, a former MEP and the vice-chair of the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee, who in the meantime became a leader of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), is advocating importance for the security and stability of Europe and supporting the European standards and policy on migration management. In this way, the Croatian sovereignty in migration matters are being sidelined to EU asylum and migration rules and norms. Protection of the human rights of the refugees and migrants, in such a discourse, is being delegated primarily to Brussels. Though it softens the securitization of the refugee and migration crisis, such an approach diminishes true human solidarity and confirms that a ruling political option has a pivotal role in shaping a policy response to humanitarian crisis.

discourse on solidarity and human rights-respecting response to refugee crisis and migrants' flow ; security discourse with respect to refugees' and migrants' flow ; discourse on the security and stability of Europe ; discourse on effective security and flexible solidarity

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