On Saturday, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia and Slovenia instituted a daily arrival cap of 580 asylum seekers from Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East and Afghanistan, which immediately created a backup of about 5,000 refugees who had been waiting at the border between Greece and Macedonia since Friday. A week ago, Austria introduced a daily cap of 80 asylum seekers, while letting a maximum of 3,200 refugees pass through the country each day.
Austrian defense minister Hans Peter Doskozil, in office only since January 26, responding to condemnation by the EU of his move, said that instead of criticizing Austria, the European Commission should finally fulfill its obligation to come up with a European solution to the refugee crisis. Otherwise, the current trends will only be magnified, he said, noting that “every EU member state is currently withdrawing to its own position and is taking its own national measures.”
On March 7, the EU will conduct a special summit meeting in Brussels to find a solution to the refugee crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is pushing a plan calling on Turkey to stop the flow of refugees and take some of them back — for a price.
Meanwhile, Spiegel reported that Greece has now become the de facto center for the vast majority of refugees heading north. An EU diplomat told the magazine that Greece “is turning into a single enormous hotspot.” Greece is now completely overwhelmed by the task of providing food and shelter to tens of thousands of refugees. At this point “only” 20,000 to 25,000 migrants are stranded in Greece, most of them in four official camps that are “hopelessly overcrowded.” But a spokeswoman from Doctors without Borders says that the entire camps system will collapse “in just eight days” should the restraints on passage persist.
The situation in the Greek capital is particularly dramatic, according to Spiegel. Hundreds of people are camped out in the ferry terminals at the port of Piraeus and on Victoria Square in the heart of Athens. They sleep on the ground and loiter in the streets. The chaos is reminiscent of the situation in Hungary in the summer, when the things became so intolerable that Chancellor Merkel was forced to open wide Germany’s borders.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told parliament this past week: “We will not accept turning the country into a permanent warehouse of souls.” He threatened to block EU decisions until the distribution of refugees among member states is implemented. “We will not tolerate that a number of countries will be building fences and walls at the borders without accepting even a single refugee,” he said.
The Greeks are angry. Deputy Foreign Minister Nikos Xydakis told Spiegel Greece is all alone in this crisis, “so why should we adhere to any new agreements?” He threatened that Greece could begin exercising its veto beyond just the refugee summit and use it on all EU issues requiring unanimity.