Slovenia
and Croatia ban transit of refugees to other European countries
Only
people who plan to seek asylum immediately upon entry, or those with
clear humanitarian needs, will be allowed in, governments say
Agence France-Presse
Wednesday 9 March
2016 04.18 GMT
Slovenia and
neighbouring Croatia will from Wednesday refuse allow the transit of
most refugees through their territory in a bid to seal off the Balkan
route used by hundreds of thousands of people seeking a new life in
Europe.
The move could set
off a domino effect among Balkan states, with Serbia indicating it
would follow Ljubljana’s lead and Macedonia apparently set to so
the same.
The attempt to shut
down the main route used by refugees fleeing war and persecution
outside Europe’s borders comes barely a day after the EU and Turkey
agreed on a proposal aimed at easing the crisis.
EU officials hailed
Monday’s deal with Ankara as an important breakthrough, but the
head of the UN refugee agency cast doubt on its legality, while
Amnesty International said the plan “dealt a death blow to the
right to seek asylum”.
Slovenia’s
interior ministry said late on Tuesday that from midnight (2300 GMT),
access would only be granted to “foreigners meeting the
requirements to enter the country”, those wishing to claim asylum,
and refugees selected “on a case by case basis on humanitarian
grounds and in accordance with the rules of the Schengen zone”.
Fellow EU member
Croatia, which is not part of the passport-free Schengen zone, said
it would follow Slovenia’s lead and refuse transit to most refugees
as of midnight.
“Apparently Europe
has decided to start a new phase in resolving the migrant crisis. It
was concluded that on the Schengen zone borders the Schengen rules
would be applied,” interior minister Vlaho Orepic told RTL
commercial television.
Croatia, which had
already limited the number allowed to enter, would now only allow in
refugees with proper visas.
“The border of
Europe will be on the Macedonia-Greek frontier and we will respect
the decisions which were made,” he said.
More than a million
people from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq have crossed the Aegean Sea
into Greece since the start of 2015, most aiming to reach Germany and
Scandinavia. The influx has caused deep divisions among EU members
about how to deal with Europe’s worst refugee crisis since the
second world war.
Serbia said that
following Slovenia’s move, it would “align all measures with the
European Union” and impose the same restrictions at its borders
with Macedonia and Bulgaria.
Slovenia and Serbia,
along with Austria, Croatia and Macedonia, have dramatically
restricted entry to migrants in recent weeks, leaving a bottleneck of
some 36,000 stuck at the Greek-Macedonian border, unable to continue
their journey.
Macedonia said it
would only grant entry to the number of migrants that will be allowed
to transit through neighbouring Serbia and on towards Europe.
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