In the wake of last week’s grisly discovery of 71 migrants suffocated in a truck in Austria, authorities there and in Germany and Hungary have expanded border inspections of traffic. And in Greece, the coast guard on Monday reported retrieving nearly 2,500 people over a weekend of search-and-rescue operations.
Meanwhile, Luxembourg, president of the European Union, has agreed to convene talks September 14 to “strengthen the European response” to the crushing tide of humanity fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Austrian traffic on the main Budapest-Vienna highway on Monday was backed up more than 30 kilometers, or 18.5 miles, the traffic watch firm Utinform reported, according to the Associated Press.
The Hungarian government released a statement Monday saying Austria’s tightened border operations “prove that no European country is going to allow illegal migrants, including refugees, to reach its territory without control,” the AP said.
Germany, too, has implemented vehicle inspections on some border highways.
Hungary this year has detained approximately 160,000 migrants, many of whom hope to seek asylum in wealthier EU countries such as Germany and Sweden.
Greece’s coast guard on Monday said it had collected 2,492 people in 70 operations conducted along its eastern islands from Friday morning through Monday morning. Another 13 were pulled from the water near the island of Chios, including one person who was unconscious and had to be hospitalized, the AP reported.
When FYROM authorities briefly halted border crossings Monday into Greece, the crowd surged forward, prompting Greek police to fire a stun grenade to head off a stampede, the AP reported. Border crossings resumed once order was restored.
EU ministers to meet
On Sunday, the interior ministers of Britain, France and Germany – Theresa May, Bernard Cazeneuve and Thomas de Maiziere, respectively – issued a joint statement asking current European Union president Luxembourg for a meeting to address the challenges of thousands of migrants flowing into Europe.
Luxembourg said it will convene the talks involving home and justice ministers from EU member states on September 14 in Brussels.
Labeling the situation as “exceptional,” the ministers called for better processing of migrants in Italy and Greece, which the International Organization for Migration said are the main landing points for more than 322,000 migrants who have crossed the Mediterranean this year.
According to the IOM, the largest populations arriving in Greece and Italy came from Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Nigeria.
The ministers recommend a system that would identify those clearly in need of protection due to the situation in their home country, as well as determining a list of “safe” countries to protect refugees and ensure the safe return of those denied asylum.
While some European leaders have advocated a more welcoming approach, others have not embraced the influx of migrants.
Hungary’s right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he is taking a hard line on migrants because he says they pose a threat to European security, prosperity and identity.
Building a fence
Hungary is building a 4-meter fence on its southern border with Serbia in an effort to block the migrants from reaching the EU, which allows passport-free passage among its 28 member nations.
Earlier this month, FYROM declared a state of emergency in response to daily border crossings from Greece of some 3,000 migrants pushing toward western European countries.
On Sunday, about 500 migrants boarded a train that leaves twice a day from the southern FYROM town of Gevgelija headed for the northern border where they can cross into Serbia.
From Serbia, as the migrants continue on their Balkan route to western Europe, the next country is Hungary.
Hungary requires the migrants to be fingerprinted before entering temporary camps, causing concern for some.
Mark Kekesi, a volunteer with the advocacy group Migrant Solidarity, said the migrants “are afraid of the Hungarian fingerprint regime because they are well aware of the fact that if their fingerprint is recorded in Hungary, then, legally, there is the opportunity for any western European country to send them back to Hungary.”
Bottleneck
Hungary has become a bottleneck on the journey to the more affluent western European countries because it has been holding on to the migrants, even when western European countries have said they are willing to accept thousands.
Germany said 800,000 migrants could settle there this year, considerably more than a year ago.
More than 2,400 people have drowned while trying to cross the Mediterranean this year, and authorities expect those tolls, as well as fatalities from land smuggling, to increase.
Pope Francis on Sunday decried the deaths of 71 migrants in an abandoned truck in Austria last week, calling it an offense against “the entire human family.”
“We entrust each of them to the mercy of God,” the pontiff said in Rome, calling on world leaders “to cooperate with effectiveness to prevent these crimes.”
Arrest in deaths
Meanwhile, Hungary said it has arrested a fifth suspect, a Bulgarian, on suspicion of human trafficking in connection with the deaths of the 71 migrants, whose bodies were found in a refrigeration truck left behind on a highway.
Three other Bulgarians and an Afghan had already been arrested.
(source: VOA)
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