Greece recalls ambassador to Austria

Greek officials estimated there were 20,000 refugees and migrants trapped in the country as a result of the new restrictions, which began when Austria announced on February 18 it would let in no more than 3,200 people a day and cap daily asylum claims at 80.

The UN’s refugee agency says problems are being made worse by those European countries which act unilaterally to stop migrants crossing their borders.

On Thursday, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve criticized its northern neighbor for tightening border controls over concerns about a flood of migrants from a camp in France.

“I got here yesterday, but we haven’t tried to go to the border”, said Aman Golestani, a 22-year-old psychology student.

The statement by Kurz comes ahead of a meeting Wednesday of Austrian and West Balkan government ministers in Vienna aiming at finding common solutions to crimping the refugee flow. “A partnership with Balkan countries is not only in the interest of these countries but also of the EU”.

The bottleneck came after Macedonia severely restricted the number and nationalities of people it is allowing to travel across its territory and continue north toward more prosperous European countries.

“It is not possible to process unlimited numbers of migrants and applicants for asylum”, said a declaration issued by a meeting of European Union members Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Bulgaria, as well as Albania Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.

The government of Greece recalled its ambassador in Vienna Thursday after Austria excluded Greek officials from a meeting of Balkan states on Europe’s migrant crisis.

Germany wants primarily to work with Turkey to protect the EU’s external borders and stem the flow of people across the Aegean Sea to Greece.

The move, coordinated with countries on the main migrant route into Europe through the Balkans, drew a warning from Berlin against unilateral measures.

“We are anxious that these closings are happening and that there are no corresponding openings through relocation and resettlement”, Grandi said, adding that there was a risk of “chaos and confusion” in Greece.

He said it was unacceptable for European Union partners to dump the burden of the crisis on Greece, forcing it to shoulder a weight way disproportionate to its size.

Amnesty International hit out Wednesday at Europe’s “shameful” response, saying most European Union countries had “simply decided that the protection of their borders is more important than the protection of the rights of refugees”. Greece – which was not invited – blasted the gathering as “hostile”.

Refugees and migrants, mostly from Afghanistan, walk through the… The wave of asylum-seekers has grown in pace even compared to last year’s massive influx of more than 1 million people.

An EU scheme agreed in September to relocate 160,000 people among EU nations under mandatory quotas, has seen just 598 relocated so far, with former communist members of the bloc opposing the plan and filing legal challenges.

Greece has also expressed “displeasure” after the controls left thousands of migrants stranded in the country.