Slovenia erects fence on Croatian border

But after Germany increased scrutiny and screening for migrants, and Austria announced it could handle only 6,000 migrants per day, Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar said 30,000 migrants might end up stranded in Slovenia.

Slovenia’s boundary with Croatia will remain open, Cerar said, but the fence will prevent migrants entering the country at uncontrolled points along the frontier.

Mr Cerar said the measures were aimed at avoiding a “humanitarian disaster” caused by an expected sharp rise in asylum seeker numbers this week following a recent dip.

Sebastian Kurz says that without such an approach Germany, Sweden and Austria – the first countries of choice for many refugees – will not be able to cope.

Slovenia had been a staunch critic of fences between European Union countries.

The construction of the fence comes as European Union leaders planned to offer African leaders aid money at a summit in Malta on Wednesday.

Croatia sharply criticised Slovenia for unfurling razor wire along stretches of their border on Wednesday, as Europe continued to struggle to find a co-ordinated response to its biggest refugee crisis since the second World War.

While a few Western countries, like Germany, have agreed to take in large numbers of migrants, other Baltic countries, like Hungary, have been resistant to even allow passage through their country. Other migrants have entered the continent from countries including Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea.

“The great challenge is not the large number of war refugees, but those who at present see an opportunity to come to Europe”, he said, adding that ideally the latter group should not make it further than Greece.

The Warsaw-based agency said Tuesday that more than 150,000 people made the journey from Turkey to Greece in October alone despite worsening weather conditions.

But Ozonnia Ojielo, a top UN Development Programme official based in Addis Ababa, told AFP that the two sides were engaging in a mutually respectful dialogue “recognising also that the rights of migrants and refugees should be fully protected”.

Mrs Merkel, speaking in Berlin, said Slovenia’s announcement underlined “the urgency with which we have to work towards a common European solution, and that means securing the external borders”.

The controversial “laissez passer” plan has been criticized by diplomats and non-governmental organizations as being tantamount to Europe telling African countries who they should accept. It will be discussed later Wednesday by European and African leaders at a migration summit in Malta. According to the UNHCR, more than 3,000 migrants are waiting near a refugee camp in the Serbian town of Presevo, from where they are planning to enter Croatia and then Slovenia.