Macedonian Defense Minister Zoran Jolevski attended the Bertelsmann Foundation/Financial Times conference in Washington, where he spoke on the migration crisis at a panel with former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband and Dutch Finance Minister and Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem. Minister Jolevski said that Macedonia has shown it can act in all seriousness when handling the unprecedented crisis.
"The measures Macedonia is undertaking are in line with the European Council's conclusions and protect the integrity of the Schengen Zone. Macedonian security forces are undertaking activities coordinated with other countries along the Balkan refugee route. Macedonia will continue to act in a constructive manner and to undertake all necessary steps to secure its national and the Euro-Atlantic safety", Jolevski said at the joint panel.
The Defense Minister also called for better coordination between the national programs to support refugees, in order to reduce security risks. "If we don't, we may have the situation expressed by a colleague of mine, from a country which had received a group of 500 Syrian refugees, and in three months was unable to locate any of them-they had all gone elsewhere. This is why Europe needs to fashion a jointly acceptable policy on handling the refugees", said Jolevski.
Albright said that the refugee crisis is a problem not just for Europe but for the entire world and called for greater American involvement. According to Albright, if the United States want to tell other countries what to do, they should also take in more of the refugees.
Minister Jolevski also called for a pro-active role of the European Union and greater US involvement to handle the crisis, but also for developing a long-term strategy. Jolevski said that the West should provide greater assistance to Syria's immediate neighbors, such as Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, to help keep more of the refugees closer to their homes in Syria and Iraq, and to allow for their future return to their homes.