The flow of Syrians, Afghans and others through the Balkans toward Western Europe continued unabated Sunday as European leaders were gathering in Brussels to try to coordinate a response to deal with the massive influx of asylum-seekers as winter sets in.
The mini-summit was sought by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Union diplomats said.
It is the latest in a series of top-level EU meetings that have, so far, failed to find a unified approach on how to deal with the thousands of migrants streaming into the EU every day.
On Sunday, Croatia Interior Ministry spokesman Domagoj Dzigulovic said a record 11,500 migrants entered the country Saturday — the most in a single day since migrants began entering the country in mid-September. Police said the country has seen nearly 250,000 enter the country since then.
Migrants turned to Croatia after Hungary erected a barbed-wire fence along its border with Serbia earlier this month.
Countries called to meet
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called leaders of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia, plus refugee organizations involved, to attend the meeting in Brussels.
“Every day counts,” Juncker said Sunday in an interview in German weekly newspaper Bild am Sonntag. “Otherwise we will soon see families in cold rivers in the Balkans perish miserably.”
Some EU lawmakers have complained that all states should be there for the meeting at 1500 GMT in Brussels and that France’s absence in particular could limit progress on a plan.
More than 680,000 migrants and refugees have crossed to Europe by sea so far this year, fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Bulgaria, Serbia and Romania said they would close their borders if Germany or other countries shut the door on refugees, warning they would not let the Balkan region become a “buffer zone” for stranded migrants.
German media have reported that Juncker will present a 16-point plan, including an undertaking not to send migrants from one country to another without prior agreement.
“The challenge now is to slow down the flow of migration and to bring our external borders under control,” Juncker told Bild. “We must also make it clear that people who arrive at our borders who are not looking for international protection have no right to enter the EU.”
However, the draft plan has already drawn criticism for its proposal that countries stop allowing asylum-seekers to pass across their borders without consulting with their neighbors.
Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said Saturday that such consultation “is impossible.”
Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said Sunday as he set off for Brussels that he was prepared for “hard, not very pleasant” talks, but hoped leaders could work out a “comprehensive solution.”
Vucicsaid Serbia would not “put up any walls” but suggested his country will not agree to be the only migrant stop if countries farther west close their borders.
Register newcomers
At the Brezice camp in Slovenia near the border with Croatia, U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) spokesman Babar Baloch urged leaders to come up with a system to register and screen newcomers when they first enter Europe, rather than piecemeal along the way.
“But also very important is to help Syria’s neighboring countries where there are around 4 million refugees,” Baloch said. “These people don’t need to take these risky journeys if there are legal pathways to come to Europe.”
Following four years of economic crisis, Europe’s governments are struggling to cope with an influx of people fleeing war and oppression in countries including Syria, Afghanistan and Eritrea.
The lack of a common policy is straining ties between European leaders, raising questions about the EU’s future. Hungary’s decision to close its border with Serbia and Croatia has prompted others to follow, stranding tens of thousands in inhuman conditions as temperatures drop.
Rights group Amnesty International said the 28-country bloc could not afford to end another meeting without an agreed plan.
“As winter looms, the sight of thousands of refugees sleeping rough as they make their way through Europe represents a damning indictment of the European Union’s failure to offer a coordinated response to the refugee crisis,” said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty’s director for Europe and Central Asia.
Death toll
The continent is experiencing the worst migration crisis since World War Two. Nearly 3,000 of the more than 600,000 migrants trying to reach Europe have died.
At least three migrants — two children and a woman — drowned on Sunday when their boat sank off the Greek island of Lesbos, the coastguard said, the latest fatalities in Europe’s refugee crisis.
Around a dozen others, mostly Afghans, are still missing after the rickety vessel, carrying 60 people, went down at dawn as it made the perilous crossing from Turkey, according to the Greek coast guard.
Some material for this report came from Reuters, AP and AFP.
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