Record numbers of refugees and migrants streamed through the Balkans into Hungary yesterday, forcing Austria to suspend cross-border train services as Europe remained bitterly divided over how to cope with the refugee crisis.
Germany — itself under fire from eastern neighbors over its willingness to take in refugees — warned that an EU plan to distribute 160,000 new arrivals among member states was a mere “drop in the ocean.”
Hungarian police said 3,321 people had entered in just 24 hours, hurrying to cross before harsh new anti-migrant laws take effect, an imposing new fence is completed and the weather worsens.
Across the border in Serbia, state television reported that a record 5,000 people had arrived at the frontier.
Further south, on Macedonia’s border with Greece, journalists saw about 50 buses transporting about 2,500 refugees and migrants, and three trains packed with 3,000 people departing from the town of Gevgelija.
The UN’s refugee agency on Tuesday warned that at least 42,000 were expected to enter Hungary by next week.
Many have endured treacherous sea journeys across the Mediterranean — most fleeing war and poverty in Syria, Afghanistan or Pakistan and hoping to reach Germany.
Once inside Hungary, overstretched police have struggled to control and register the new arrivals, who mostly board trains and buses bound for the border with Austria.
Hundreds have broken through Hungarian police lines in recent days near the flashpoint border village of Roszke after waiting for hours to get on buses.
Emergency measures allowing refugees to enter Austria after the arrival of 15,000 last weekend remained in place. Overnight, 3,700 more crossed the border, Austrian police said.
However, Austria’s train operator yesterday suspended services with Hungary because of “massive overcrowding,” calling on bus companies and volunteers to stop bringing refugees to stations.
In an effort to control the crisis, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday unveiled a new plan to for the bloc to share out 160,000 refugees to ease the burden on front-line states, but Germany, which said it has already welcomed 450,000 migrants and refugees this year, wants the 28-nation bloc to go further.
Europe’s biggest economy wants compulsory long-term EU quotas with no limits on numbers, with German Deputy Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel yesterday likening Juncker’s proposals to “a drop in the ocean.”
“The distribution of 160,000 refugees across Europe is a first step, if one wants to be polite,” he said.
However, binding quotas are already facing fierce resistance from eastern members of the EU, with Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico saying his country would not “bow down” to Berlin.
Some help may be on the way from outside, with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday seeking to drum up support for the country to accept more refugees.
Washington has accepted only about 1,500 Syrians since the four-year-old conflict erupted, a tiny proportion of the 15,000 Syrians the UN has referred to it for resettlement.
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