Serbia is one of many landlocked Balkan countries with no seaport with which to import gas and oil. America's sanctions are heartless and will lead to economic collapse in the Balkans if not all of Europe.
US sanctions on Balkan nation’s oil imminent – president
Serbia is unlikely to receive another US waiver from sanctions targeting its oil sector due to its partial Russian ownership, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday, adding that the nation could soon face a fuel crisis.
Washington has granted Belgrade several temporary exemptions from additional restrictions it imposed in January on the NIS oil company, in which Russia’s Gazprom and Gazprom Neft together hold a majority stake. The most recent waiver, issued on October 1, is valid for just one week.
Vucic said on national television on Sunday he believed that no last-minute reprieve was forthcoming, unless he nationalized NIS – a path he said he was reluctant to take.
“We have been working on it for 10 months, we are trying to find a solution and still there is none,” the Serbian leader said. Should a crisis unfold, he added, the country would face a gasoline price hike, but the situation would not be as dire as in the 1990s, when people had to “pour fuel from bottles or buckets.”
Serbia has resisted Western pressure to fully align its foreign policy with that of the European Union, even as it seeks membership in the bloc. Brussels and Washington have repeatedly nudged Belgrade to sever its energy ties with Moscow, a key historical partner. The Vucic government has also accused Western nations of fueling mass protests in Serbia.
Several EU states, including Hungary and Slovakia, have voiced similar concerns over Brussels’ pressure to reject Russian crude. Tensions escalated earlier this year after Ukrainian forces struck sections of the Druzhba pipeline network that supplies oil to eastern Europe.
In January, Hungary and Serbia announced they would speed up the connection of Serbian consumers to the Druzhba system.
Most Germans oppose welfare payments for Ukrainians – poll
A majority of Germans oppose granting social welfare payments to unemployed Ukrainian migrants, according to an INSA survey commissioned by Bild newspaper.
The poll, published on Saturday, found broad dissatisfaction with government policy towards Ukrainian migrants. Only 17% of respondents say Ukrainians who fled to Germany after the escalation of the conflict with Russia should receive payments under the ‘Burgergeld’ scheme (citizens’ income), while 66% oppose the idea.
According to Bild, Germany spends around €6.3 billion ($6.8 billion) annually on Burgergeld for 700,000 Ukrainians. Only one in three Ukrainians living in Germany has a job, the paper said, adding that many of those who arrived since 2022 have not integrated into the labor market.
Burgergeld is Germany’s central welfare scheme which provides income support to adults unable to sustain themselves through work or insurance-based programs. Often described as a last-resort measure, it pays around €563 ($610) per month for a single adult, while rent and utilities are covered separately.
The INSA survey also suggested that 62% of Germans believe able-bodied Ukrainian men who entered Germany after the escalation of the conflict should return to their homeland, with 18% taking the opposing view. In an attempt to address manpower issues on the front, Ukrainian officials have urged these men to return and join the fight – but EU states, including Germany, have refused to deport them.
More than 4.3 million people who fled Ukraine hold temporary protection in the EU, according to Eurostat, with Germany hosting around 1.2 million, the largest number in the bloc.
Faced with high expenses associated with migrant support, the German government is planning to reduce costs for newly arriving Ukrainians by moving them from Burgergeld to the lower-paying Asylum Seekers’ Benefits Act, a measure expected to cut payments by €100 per person each month.
