EU chief: We have to stop waving migrants through
EU PRESIDENT Jean- Claude Juncker has warned countries to stop ‘waving people through’ if Europe is to bring its deepening migration crisis under control.
He spoke out after an emergency summit of European leaders turned acrimonious – each accusing the other of shirking their duty to refugees pouring into the Balkans from Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East.
While the mud-slinging is likely to continue, it was agreed to build reception centres for 100,000 more people – half in Greece, and the rest across the Balkans – to help them survive the freezing winter in eastern Europe.
Hundreds more border guards and finger-printing facilities will also be deployed at flashpoints in the region to stop refugees travelling undocumented.
The emergency ‘mini-summit’ of eastern European nations – some of them outside the EU – and Germany was requested by Angela Merkel to tackle the crisis along what has become known as the Western Balkans route.
Mrs Merkel’s critics accuse her encouraging migrants to make the difficult journey by offering to take in 800,000 asylum seekers this year, prompting a huge dash across south-eastern Europe to reach Ger- many. Some states have already threatened to close their borders altogether, including some of those in the Schengen area within the EU – where people can travel without passports or visas.
In a 17-point plan agreed by the leaders in Brussels, all member states agreed that allowing refugees or migrants to cross the border into another country was ‘unacceptable’.
Mr Juncker told reporters: ‘We have made very clear that
‘Europe’s greatest test’
the policy of simply waving people through must be stopped, and that is what is going to happen.’
It was agreed to set up more finger-printing points, to manage the flow of migrants. Those from Afghanistan, Iraq, Bangladesh and Pakistan who are deemed not to need interna- tional protection, will be more sent back more quickly.
Greece – which in the past week has seen 9,000 people arrive every day – has agreed to host reception centres for 50,000, despite concerns that this will be far too few. Another 50,000 will be hosted along the Western Balkan route.
The migration to Germany has seen bottlenecks develop in southern and eastern Europe. Tiny Slovenia, has been swamped by 75,000 arrivals in the past few days.
Hungary closed its border with Serbia in September. This has diverted migrants westwards – 260,000 have passed through Croatia since.
Mrs Merkel said after the summit: ‘This is one of the greatest litmus tests that Europe has ever faced.’
Croatian leader Zoran Milanovi said only tough border controls between Turkey and Greece would work, adding: ‘Everything else is a waste of time’.