EU interior ministers met in Brussels yesterday to discuss the refugee crisis after western Balkan nations slammed shut their borders, exacerbating a dire humanitarian situation on the Macedonian frontier.
The scheduled two-day meeting is to tackle various areas including a proposed deal with Turkey and the restoration of the visa-free Schengen zone, along with plans for a European border and coastguard system seen as a key step for securing the bloc’s frontiers.
The talks come after Slovenia and Croatia, two of the countries along the Balkan route used by hundreds of thousands of people in recent months, barred entry to transiting refugees and migrants from midnight on Wednesday and Serbia indicated it would follow suit.
Photo: EPA
EU member Slovenia said it would make exceptions only for regugees wishing to claim asylum in the country or for those seeking entry “on humanitarian grounds and in accordance with the rules of the Schengen zone.”
Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar said the move meant that “the [Balkan] route for illegal migrations no longer exists,” while EU President Donald Tusk said on Twitter: “Irregular flows of migrants along Western Balkans route have come to an end.”
“Not a question of unilateral actions but common EU28 decision... I thank Western Balkan countries for implementing part of EU’s comprehensive strategy to deal with migration crisis,” Tusk added, referring to the 28 nations of the EU.
As the EU battles the worst refugee crisis since World War II, the fresh measures ramped up the pressure on the bloc to seal a proposed deal with Turkey to ease the chaos.
A controversial deal discussed with Turkey at an EU summit on Monday and due to be finalized on Thursday and Friday next week would see the country take back all illegal refugees landing in Greece.
Ankara proposed an arrangement under which the EU would resettle one Syrian refugee from camps in Turkey in exchange for every Syrian that Turkey takes from Greece, in a bid to reduce the incentive for people to board boats for Europe.
However, in return Turkey wants 6 billion euros (US$6.58 billion) in aid, visa-free access to Europe’s passport-free Schengen zone and a speeding up of Ankara’s efforts to join the EU — demands that go too far for some.
The country hosts 2.7 million refugees from the five-year-old Syrian civil war and is the main springboard for refugees and migrants heading to the EU.
Authorities in Greece — the main entry point into the EU across the sea from Turkey — on Wednesday said that nearly 36,000 refugess were now stranded there.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees on Wednesday said there were also as many as 2,000 refugees stuck in Serbia.
There are fears that some will turn to people-smugglers and try their luck getting into Albania, and from there to Italy, or Bulgaria.
More than 14,000 mainly Syrian and Iraqi refugees have camped out at Idomeni on the Greek side of the border with Macedonia.
Macedonia has not let anyone enter since Monday.
“We are hoping a miracle will happen,” said Ola, a 15-year-old from war-scarred Aleppo who has lived in a tent at Idomeni with her mother and two younger brothers for two weeks. “We thought Germany wanted us. That’s why we took the boat and came here.”
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