Balkan Nations Shut Down March of Migrants

NYTimes:

LONDON — The route that more than one million migrants have used to traverse southeastern Europe was effectively shut down Wednesday, when four Balkan nations stopped waving the migrants through on their journey northward.

The four countries — Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia and Macedonia — have closed their borders to new migrants with the implicit backing of the European Union, which announced an agreement with Turkey on Tuesday to slow the flow of migrants.

The deal has not been completed — that is supposed to happen at a summit meeting next week. But within hours of the announcement from Brussels, Slovenia and Serbia announced new restrictions on the entry of migrants.

“From midnight, there will be no more migration on the Western Balkan route as it took place so far,” the interior minister of Slovenia, Vesna Gyorkos Znidar, said on Tuesday evening.

Serbia quickly followed suit on Wednesday. “Serbia cannot allow itself to become a collective center for refugees, so it will harmonize all its measures with those of the E.U. member states,” the country’s Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Prime Minister Tihomir Oreskovic of Croatia said at a news conference on Wednesday: “The message is clear. Illegal migrants will no longer pass along this route.”

Mr. Oreskovic said the agreement with Turkey had reduced the incentive for migrants to head to Europe. Like other leaders, he attributed the problem to traffickers who lure migrants into taking dangerous voyages across the Aegean Sea. “In what way can we destroy this business model?” he asked.

The decision by the four Balkan countries does not affect regular visitors, like tourists or business travelers, but is an effort to stop undocumented migrants from passing through the countries to seek asylum elsewhere. Very few have applied for asylum in the Balkan countries.

The shutdown of the migrant corridor is consistent with an effort by Brussels to restore order after the asylum system broke down last year.

Under the agreement with Turkey, any unauthorized migrant arriving in Greece will be automatically sent back to Turkey, and for each Syrian sent back, the European Union will resettle a Syrian refugee from Turkey.

The European Union has also pledged to expand humanitarian aid to help Turkey deal with the 2.7 million Syrian migrants living there; to expedite visa-free travel for Turks; and to reopen long-stalled negotiations over Turkey’s application to join the 28-nation bloc…