Migrant flows to Europe top 110000 this year

Greece was highly critical of Wednesday’s meeting in Vienna, which was attended by the interior and foreign ministers of European Union members Slovenia, Croatia and Bulgaria, as well officials from Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.

Refugees and migrants are helped by volunteers as they arrive on a dinghy from the Turkish coast to Mytilene, Lesbos island, Greece, on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016.

Austria, defying criticism from Greek and United Nations refugee officials, took further steps on Wednesday to coordinate a slew of border restrictions spanning the Balkans that have caused a worsening logjam of migrants in Greece.

“There is no sense in expecting Serbia to agree to receive migrants about whom we receive clear signals from Austria, Slovenia and Croatia that they will not be allowed in these countries”, Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said.

Martin Schulz says in an interview with French radio Europe 1 that the move, announced Tuesday by Belgian interior minister Jan Jambon, was carried out according to the rules of the Schengen borderless zone, which he said permits states to temporarily restore border controls.

Amnesty International says the European Union is too focused on keeping migrants out and failing to take humanitarian measures that could have prevented thousands dying at sea.

“We are concerned about the developments along the Balkan route and the humanitarian crisis that might unfold in certain countries, especially in Greece”, EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos and Dutch Migration Minister Klaas Dijkhoff said in a statement. “A partnership with Balkan countries is not only in the interest of these countries but also of the EU”. “I don’t know what I’ll do now…”

Thousands of people have been waiting at the Idomeni area of the border with Macedonia to cross northwards.

Austria, which has taken in a similar proportion of asylum seekers relative to its population, said last week that it would cap the number of migrants passing through its southern border at 3,200 a day and limit daily asylum claims there to 80. “It’s very cold”, said Teimoorshah Yousefi, 40, and one of 600 Afghans stranded at a northern Macedonian border crossing this week.

“There is still no European solution in sight”, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz told reporters before the meeting in Vienna.

Not only are their numbers huge, but unlike migrants from North Africa and Pakistan, asylum seekers from Afghanistan have high acceptance rates in nations like Germany – raising the prospect that legitimate refugees are now being restricted.

The move was a “unilateral and non-friendly act” towards Greece on a matter in which Athens had a direct interest, the ministry said.

“We are anxious that these closings are happening and that there are no corresponding openings through relocation and resettlement”, said Grandi.

Under the agreement, Valencia will arrange for a ship with a capacity of 1,000 people to sail from the Aegean islands to Spain, with the possibility of such a journey being repeated. “We want to generate pressure and urgency”, she said.