Balkans skeptical of EU migrant relief plan

Southeast European countries facing an unprecedented influx of migrants reacted cautiously Monday to new EU plans to help ease the crisis, following an emergency mini-summit on Sunday.

The European Union (EU) pledged to help set up 100,000 reception centers along the migrant route through the Balkans in a bid to defuse rising tensions on its eastern frontier as tens of thousands pass through the region on their way to northern Europe.

A 17-point plan announced after emergency talks between the heads of 10 EU nations and non-EU Albania, Serbia and FYROM*** included a stipulation that no country will let migrants through to an adjoining state without first getting the agreement of its neighbor.

Another key element of the plan is to speed up information exchanges between countries to coordinate their efforts.

"It is crucial that commitments are fulfilled in practice. If that does not happen from [Monday] on, the situation will not improve significantly," Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar told reporters after the meeting.

"In such a case, we continue along the path that I referred to at my arrival," he said, in reference to his comments ahead of the summit that the EU would start "falling apart" without immediate, concrete actions.

Tensions have grown after Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia warned over the weekend they could close their borders in order to avoid becoming a "buffer zone" for the streams of people entering Europe every day.

FYROM*** President Gjorge Ivanov warned that his tiny Balkan nation, a key transit state, could host a maximum of 2,000 migrants if crossing points were shut down.

"We can only be a transit country. FYROM*** has no capacity to be able to keep a larger number of refugees on its territory if the corridor is closed," Ivanov told journalists after the meeting in Brussels.
 
He also said FYROM*** has "no financial aid" and suffers from "a lack of valuable information," as it is not an EU member.
AFP
 globaltimes.cn
26/10/15
***[After the necessary corrections with the name "FYROM"]

***[GREECE recognized this country with the name "FYROM"]
***[UN  resolution A/RES/47/225 of 8 April 1993] 

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Related:

• Migrant crisis: Thousands of new reception places agreed 

• Greece sees record 48,000 arrivals in past five days: IOM

• Bulgarian Borders Sealed for Undocumented Migrants (Boyko Borissov)

• Neighboring states not taking refugees (Turkish minister). -- The four-day crisis has been caused by a rumor on social media that Germany would accept thousands of Syrian refugees.

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