Every year in July and August, fires break out all over the Balkans. That is why the issue of forming a regional center that could react in the shortest possible time is being raised. BiH could be the first to initiate such a proposal.
The fire in the Sutjeska National Park, which raged for days, engulfed hundreds of hectares of low vegetation, engulfed a century-old conifer forest and threatened the biodiversity of the entire area. The spread of the fire was stopped by the efforts of the Helicopter Service of the Republika Srpska, later with two helicopters of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally with helicopters from Serbia specialized in firefighting.
However, due to the complicated decision-making system, entity and state jurisdiction, then political blockade, because no approval was given for help from Serbia in the first place, the slopes of Zelengora were under fire for days, because no action was taken earlier.
"We were ready to leave on Saturday... We had the logistical capacity to be here already on Saturday. However, the diplomatic approval arrived today (August 12) and now we are here to help", said the captain of the helicopter team from Serbia, Jovica Mihailović, immediately after arriving at the location of Sutjeska.
By coordinating against fires
And the approval had to go through the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where, only after a few days, agreement was reached to request international help in extinguishing the fire. Help was requested from Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro, due to the insufficient capacity of the Helicopter Service of the RS and the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which have a fleet of six helicopters, and two are ready for firefighting.
In addition to the fire on Sutjeska, there are active fires in Kakanj and several other locations, as well as in neighboring Montenegro and Macedonia, where Serbia also sent help to extinguish the fire. In these conditions, the question of forming a regional center that would "cover" the countries of the Western Balkans, including Croatia, and which would be operational at all times in emergencies and react on a regional basis, was opened. Would such a move be good - there is no doubt about that in Croatia, which is a member of the European Union and is already part of the coordination mechanism.
"There is already a mechanism within the EU and Greece has now activated it. As for countries outside the EU, it should definitely be done. One such mechanism should be negotiated, agreed upon and created - either within the EU or separately. It certainly makes sense, because accidents know no borders and one should be in solidarity", Dino Kozlevac, chief of staff of the Civil Protection of the Istrian County, told DW, noting that, although it is a question of political decisions, there should be no difference.
"Because all the procedures defined by the earlier agreement would be facilitated there, which would speed up the use of forces where it is urgently needed," says Kozlevac.
Montenegro also says that borders must not be an obstacle in such conditions and that the cooperation of firefighting units has existed until now through various projects. The creation of a single system would only facilitate this work and speed up all the necessary procedures in saving people's lives and property due to all kinds of disasters.
Politics brakeman
"We don't need any European Union, we are enough on our own and we have enough intelligence and knowledge to be able to cooperate at the level of the countries of the former Yugoslavia - as long as there is good will, primarily political. Fire knows no borders," Zlatko Ćirović, commander of the Herceg Novi Protection and Rescue Service, told DW, targeting politics as a brake on those processes.
"When it comes to the profession, there are no obstacles. We will come to an agreement efficiently and quickly, and come to the aid of others. "It's a bit of a political problem, because our politicians still can't accept that the profession is asking, and then there's a deadlock," says Ćirović.
According to the statement of BiH Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmedin Konaković, there should be no problem. On the contrary, he says, the idea is excellent, although he does not want to enter into the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Security, in which the issue is mostly under the jurisdiction. He is ready to consider and propose such an initiative to the countries in the region.
"I agree and give my full support and in these situations we should never have political differences as obstacles to saving material goods and human lives." We should think about such a regional center that can certainly be of help", says Konaković, citing as an example of cooperation the previous situations in which Bosnia and Herzegovina helped Slovenia and Turkey.
"In order not to jump into anyone's departments and initiate initiatives, considering that Nešić (Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nenad, ed.) is the main and responsible for our participation in that mechanism within the framework of civil protection, it is great an idea. I will delegate it to my colleagues and that we together from the Council of Ministers forward it to the neighboring countries," Konaković told DW.
From request to help - 24 hours
We also asked Nešić if he would support such an initiative, but he did not answer our calls. On the other hand, Defense Minister Zukan Helez was in the mood for a conversation, reminding DW that the BiH Council of Ministers at the last session confirmed agreements with Serbia and Croatia on mutual cooperation until "the end of the fire season".
"Certainly, such an initiative to create a regional center would be an excellent move, to permanently establish and define this cooperation. Because nature is stronger than all these social processes. Even countries that have unresolved issues cooperate on this plan, so networking the region in this sense is not impossible and should be done," says Helez.
The most effective extinguishing of fires is at the very beginning, i.e. immediately after the outbreak and location. The problem of cross-border assistance with all the countries of the Western Balkans is the time it takes from the initiation of the request to the entry of the aircraft into the domestic airspace, which is often 24 hours. This very fact, our interlocutors agree, should be the reason for seriously approaching the formation of a regional center that would be able to react immediately without bureaucratic obstacles, and according to previously established rules that the countries would enter into that agreement.
Bonus video:
