Border marker 501 separates Serbia from the European Union, or from "Europe," as the people here call it. The lights of the Hungarian village of Röszke flicker on the far side of the border. On the Serbian side, Aleksandar Jelenkovic's boots make a crunching sound as he walks through the frozen snow.
Jelenkovic, an officer in Belgrade's border troops who is on nighttime patrol here, has seen his responsibilities change since midnight, when new rules came into effect, allowing citizens of Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro to travel to "Europe" without a visa. The EU's diplomatic gift to residents of the western Balkans holding forgery-proof passports has arrived just in time for the Orthodox feast of St. Nicholas.
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