Extraordinary meeting of eleven European countries: The era of open doors to refugees is over
A summit of Balkan countries, as well as Austria and Germany, known as the “Balkan Road Countries,” was held in Vienna on Saturday, September 24, to discuss the refugee crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is attending the summit despite her party’s defeat in the recent Berlin state elections due to Merkel’s refugee policies.
AFP reported from Vienna that today's meeting was attended by the heads of state or representatives of eleven EU member states and was held at the initiative of Christian Kern, the Social Democratic Chancellor of Austria.
Before the start of the Vienna summit, the Austrian Chancellor announced in a conversation that "increasing control of the European Union's external borders, supporting neighboring countries that accept refugees, and providing financial support to African countries are the three main axes of the Vienna summit."
European Council President Donald Tusk, who also attended the Vienna summit, told reporters upon arriving in the city that the summit would once again announce that the Balkan route to refugees was closed and that the reconstruction of the EU's external border control system would be a priority.
While it has been a year since the peak of the refugee crisis in Europe and Europe has ended its "open door" policy, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has announced that so far this year (2016) 300,000 refugees have crossed the Mediterranean waters to reach Europe, especially Italy.
Of course, this number is much lower than last year's figures, but higher than in 2014. In the first nine months of 2015 alone, around 520,000 refugees entered Europe. This was compared to a total of 216,000 refugees who managed to reach European soil in the previous year, 2014.
Tens of thousands of refugees have crossed the “Balkan Road” that starts in Greece and continues towards western Europe since last March. Hundreds of refugees are still trying to cross this road, but security measures and barriers at the borders have become more stringent than in the past.
Source: RFI
