Serbia's Emergency Staff Moves to Daily Meetings

Serbia’s Republican Emergency Situations Staff has decided that starting Tuesday, August 4, operational staffs will meet every day to coordinate the response to the heatwave, the drought, drinking water shortages and open air fires. The meetings are organized by the Emergency Situations Sector of the Ministry of Interior, and the decision was made at a session held in Belgrade and chaired by Deputy Prime Minister, Interior Minister and Republican Staff commander Ivica Dacic.

The session was called by Prime Minister Djuro Macut, as we reported when the premier asked for rational electricity use and announced the staff meeting. The daily rhythm of meetings isn’t an improvised response to one difficult week, it builds on conclusions from the staff’s session on July 30, when stepped up monitoring of the hydrological situation was ordered for the first time.

What the staff actually decided

Four operational decisions came out of the session:

• daily meetings of operational staffs starting August 4, dedicated to the heatwave, drought, drinking water and open air fires
• continued monitoring of the situation across the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, with recommendations to provincial authorities
• stepped up oversight of watercourses and surface waters
• additional involvement of the Srbijavode company and the Republican Commodity Reserves Directorate in the staff’s work

Along with this, an appeal went out to citizens, local governments, businesses and all other users to use electricity and water responsibly, above all irrigation water. The wording is soft, but the target isn’t: irrigation is the single largest consumer right now, and the decision to conserve is made in the field, not in Belgrade.

Are restrictions coming for citizens?

Not for now. After the session, Macut said the energy situation is completely stable and that no measures have been introduced for citizens. He spoke to reporters during a presentation ride on the “Soko” train on the Belgrade, Subotica, Belgrade route.

“The situation isn’t naive, but it isn’t worrying to that extent either. The population won’t suffer at this point, but the recommendation and the request stand, that we use our resources rationally right now. This is a Europe wide crisis because of the severe drought and low water levels, or rather low rainfall. There was rain in Germany and Bavaria over the weekend, but it hasn’t had much effect on the Danube’s level. We have a problem that is unrecorded in the modern history of our country, and of central Europe as well,” Macut said.

The premier also specified that water levels dictate power output at the Djerdap hydropower system, which explains why a session about weather conditions turned into a session about energy.

Why the Danube sits at the center of every decision

Keeping the Danube navigable and keeping the Danube, Tisa, Danube canal system functional was named as a priority, work handled by Srbijavode and Vode Vojvodine. Three chains hang off the same river: river transport, irrigation for the north of the country and hydropower.

The Danube’s historically low water level therefore isn’t staying a weather story. It determines how much power Djerdap can produce, how much cargo can move through the corridor and how much water is left for Vojvodina’s canal network.

The next step is known by its schedule, not its outcome. From Tuesday the situation is measured every day, and the real test of this arrangement will come when the daily reports show whether the water level has stabilized or keeps falling.