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European Leaders Look Again for a Unified Response to Migrant Crisis European Leaders Look Again for a Unified Response to Migrant Crisis
(35 minutes later)
BRUSSELS — Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany met here on Sunday with leaders of East European countries along the main migrant trail to affluent parts of Europe in a new push to bring some order to a chaotic flow of tens of thousands of people seeking shelter from war or simply better lives. BRUSSELS — The leaders of Greece and other countries along the main migrant trail to affluent parts of Europe agreed late Sunday to set up holding camps for 100,000 asylum seekers, a move that Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said would help slow a chaotic flow of tens of thousands of people seeking shelter from war or simply better lives.
The gathering, called at Ms. Merkel’s behest by the European Union‘s top executive, Jean-Claude Juncker, was the fifth consecutive meeting of leaders focused on so far fruitless efforts to deal with Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since the end of World War II. Amid warnings that the European Union risked falling apart if it cannot forge a common response to a largely uncontrolled influx of Syrians, Afghans and others, Ms. Merkel said early Monday in Brussels that Europe “faced one of the greatest litmus tests” in its history and was now moving slowly to ease the crisis.
Voicing despair at Europe’s failure to forge a common policy, Miro Cerar, the prime minister of Slovenia, which has been swamped by 60,000 people from Syria and elsewhere over the past 10 days, said that continued failure to act in concert would signal “the beginning of the end of the European Union and Europe as such.” Europe, he said, “will begin falling apart.” All the same, she told reporters after an emergency meeting with Eastern and Central European leaders in Brussels that Europe still had a long way to go before it got a grip on its biggest refugee crisis since the end of World War II.
The European Commission, the union’s executive arm, has proposed numerous plans and programs since the early summer to deal with the migrant crisis but a wide chasm has opened up between talk in Brussels and real action on the ground. Commenting on pledges of coordinated action made by the leaders at the meeting, she said, “Of course this does not solve the problem,” but it does provide “a building stone in the edifice” of a more coherent policy.
The gathering was the fifth consecutive meeting of leaders focused on how to deal with a crisis that has led to acrimonious divisions among European nations and helped bolster the political fortunes of anti-European populist forces across the Continent. In Poland on Sunday, the right-wing Law and Justice party trounced a more Europe-friendly governing party in parliamentary elections.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Union’s top executive, who convened Sunday’s meeting at the behest of Ms. Merkel, said reception centers would be established along the so-called “Balkan route” taken by most migrants that could hold and process 50,000 people, with facilities for 50,000 more to be set up in Greece. He said leaders had also agreed to stop “waving through” migrants who cross their countries as they rush north toward Germany and Scandinavia.
“The only way to restore order is to slow down the uncontrolled flows of people,” Mr. Juncker told reporters.
Voicing dismay that previous promises of action had not been put into effect, he said countries must now follow through on their commitments so that order can be reached in a flow of migrants that keeps increasing.
The European Commission, the union’s executive arm, of which Mr. Juncker is the president, has proposed numerous plans and programs since the early summer to deal with the issue, but a wide chasm has opened between talk in Brussels and real action on the ground.
In the five months since the commission first announced a plan to relocate 40,000 refugees from Greece and Italy to other European countries, for example, only 87 people have so far been moved. At the current pace, it would take more than 750 years to relocate the 160,000 asylum seekers covered by a now-expanded resettlement plan.In the five months since the commission first announced a plan to relocate 40,000 refugees from Greece and Italy to other European countries, for example, only 87 people have so far been moved. At the current pace, it would take more than 750 years to relocate the 160,000 asylum seekers covered by a now-expanded resettlement plan.
Arriving in Brussels on Sunday, Ms. Merkel added her own powerful voice to calls for solid action instead of statements. But while insisting the emergency meeting should focus on “practical questions,” she cautioned that it would not be possible to resolve the “whole question of refugees,” because that would require talks with Turkey, which was not represented at the Brussels meeting. Adding to a growing sense of urgency in recent days has been fear that Germany, the final destination of many of the newcomers, might decide to close its borders.
Even so, she said leaders needed to find a way to help people who were “erratically wandering around, often under excruciating circumstances” and better share the burden of providing for them among the various nations involved along what has become known as the “Balkan Route.” Asked early Sunday whether this was a possibility, Ms. Merkel did not answer directly. She faces growing pressure over her handling of the crisis from within her conservative bloc, which has suffered in opinion polls because of a flood of what are expected to be at last 800,000 asylum seekers into Germany this year. Support for the chancellor’s Christian Democratic Union has dropped to its lowest point in three years, according to one prominent German polling firm.
At home, Ms. Merkel faces growing pressure from within her conservative bloc, which has suffered in opinion polls because of the crisis. Support for the chancellor’s Christian Democratic Union has dropped to its lowest point in three years, according to one prominent German polling firm. Recent weeks have seen a rise in the number of far-right attacks in Germany, and the tone of the political discourse has become increasingly raw, worrying security officials and raising questions over whether Ms. Merkel will stick to her insistence that Germany’s borders stay open.
Recent weeks have seen a rise in the number of far-right attacks in Germany and the tone of the political discourse has become increasingly raw, worrying security officials and raising questions over the chancellor’s insistence that the country can handle the influx of asylum seekers, expected to reach at least 800,000 this year. Miro Cerar, the prime minister of Slovenia, said early Sunday that Ms. Merkel had assured leaders that Germany would not close its borders. Any move to seal Germany off to migrants, Mr. Cerar said, “would lead to a domino effect that would be a disaster.”
Unlike previous meetings devoted to the migration issue, Sunday’s gathering of 11 leaders included not only countries that belong to the 28-nation European Union but others outside the bloc: Albania, Macedonia and Serbia. “Exceptional times demand exceptional measures,” Ms. Merkel said. Mr. Cerar, whose country has received 60,000 people from Syria and elsewhere in the past 10 days, warned at the start of Sunday’s meeting that the European Union “will begin falling apart” if its members could not act in concert.
Gjorge Ivanov, the leader of Macedonia, through which most asylum seekers pass on their way from Greece to northern Europe, said 10,000 people were now entering his country each day. “If we don’t stick together we will all hang separately,” he said, citing Benjamin Franklin. He later said that pledges of action made Sunday, which included a promise to send 400 police officers to help Slovenia manage its own borders, were “a first step” in the right direction but added: “We must now see if they are delivered.”
Warning that the flow of refugees will only increase as a result of intensified fighting in Syria, Johannes Hahn, the European Union’s senior official for regional policy, pleaded Sunday for a “coordinated and coherent answer” and said that attempts by individual nations to stop the flow would only turn other countries into “parking lots” for stranded migrants. “Don’t look for individual solutions. This is not a way out,” he said. Unlike previous Brussels meetings devoted to the migration issue, Sunday’s gathering of 11 leaders included not only countries that belong to the 28-nation European Union but also others outside the bloc: Albania, Macedonia and Serbia. “Exceptional times demand exceptional measures,” Ms. Merkel said.
Mr. Hahn’s comments signaled growing alarm in Brussels over efforts by some countries in Eastern European, notably Hungary, to keep asylum seekers out. A fence built by Hungary along its southern border to prevent migrants and refugees flowing through its territory has pushed the flow toward Croatia and Slovenia. Gjorge Ivanov, the leader of Macedonia, through which most asylum seekers pass on their way from Greece to northern Europe, said 10,000 people were now entering his country each day. “If we don’t stick together, we will all hang separately,” he said, paraphrasing Benjamin Franklin.
Viktor Orban, Hungary’s pugnacious prime minister, sounded a characteristically defiant tone upon his arrival Sunday in Brussels, saying that he was attending as only an “observer” as Hungary is no longer part of the migrant trail. Mr. Orban repeated his longstanding position that the only realistic way to solve the crisis is for the European Union to take over control of Greece’s eastern border with Turkey, the main corridor for migrants and refugees seeking entry to Europe. Warning that the flow would only increase with intensified fighting in Syria, Johannes Hahn, the European Union’s senior official for regional policy, pleaded Sunday for a “coordinated and coherent answer” and said that attempts by individual nations to stop the flow would only turn other countries into “parking lots” for stranded migrants. “Don’t look for individual solutions. This is not a way out,” he said.
“We should go down south to protect the borders of Greece,” Mr. Orban said, complaining that he had proposed this many times “but no one accepted.” Mr. Hahn’s comments signaled growing alarm in Brussels over efforts by some countries in Eastern Europe, notably Hungary, to keep asylum seekers out. A fence built by Hungary along its southern border has pushed the flow toward Croatia and Slovenia.
Mr. Juncker, the president of the European Commission and the chief architect of the bloc’s stillborn response to the crisis, has meanwhile put forward yet another plan, a 16-point proposal that some leaders attending the meeting in Brussels immediately dismissed as unrealistic. Viktor Orban, Hungary’s pugnacious prime minister, sounded a characteristically defiant tone upon his arrival Sunday in Brussels, saying that he was attending as only an “observer,” as Hungary was no longer part of the migrant trail. Mr. Orban repeated his longstanding position that the only realistic solution to the crisis is for the European Union to take control of Greece’s eastern border with Turkey, the main corridor for those seeking entry to Europe.
An early draft of the plan put to leaders on Sunday called for an expanded role for Frontex, the European border agency, in the sea between Greece and Turkey and also along Greece’s land borders with Macedonia and Albania. It also pledged to help Greece increase the capacity of reception centers on outlying islands to 50,000 people to help ensure that all new arrivals from Turkey get properly registered and fingerprinted, which has previously not been the case. "We should go down south and defend the borders of Greece if they are not able to do that,” Mr. Orban said, complaining that he had proposed this many times, “but no one accepted.” 
The plan demanded that countries stop “waving through” migrants and refugees, a demand that infuriated leaders whose governments have no interest in holding people determined to reach Germany or Scandinavia. Officials said the plan was being revised to accommodate the objections of various countries. The cornerstone of the commission’s migration policy, the slow-moving relocation plan, has been stalled by bitter resistance from Hungary and other Eastern and Central European countries that object to taking in migrants for resettlement. But even a sharp acceleration of a plan to relocate 160,000 people would barely make a dent in the number who continue to flood into Europe.
In an interview published Sunday in the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, Mr. Juncker pleaded for swift action, repeating a refrain that has been repeatedly ignored in the past. “Every day counts,” Mr. Juncker said. “Otherwise we will soon see families perishing wretchedly in cold rivers in the Balkans.” According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 537,000 migrants and refugees have crossed into Greece alone so far this year. Instead of slowing after a series of summit meetings in Brussels focused those numbers, the flow of migrants through Greece has only increased, with around 9,600 people arriving there from Turkey each day last week, the highest number so far this year.
The cornerstone of the commission’s migration policy, the slow-moving relocation plan, has been stalled by resistance from East and Central European countries that object to taking in refugees for resettlement. But even a sharp acceleration of a plan to relocate 160,000 refugees would barely make a dent in the number of people that have flooded and continue to flood into Europe.
According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 537,000 migrants and refugees have crossed into Greece alone so far this year. Instead of slowing after a series of summit meetings in Brussels focused on stemming the influx, the flow through Greece has only increased, with around 9,600 people arriving there from Turkey each day last week, the highest number so far this year.
East European countries, the main transit route for migrants heading north from Greece to Germany and Scandinavia, have reacted with fury toward what they view as fanciful European Commission plans disconnected from reality.
On the eve of Sunday’s meeting in Brussels, Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic of Croatia derided new commission proposals that countries stop migrants passing through their territory without consulting their neighbors.
“That is impossible,” Mr. Milanovic said. “Whoever wrote this does not understand how things work and must have just woken up from a monthslong sleep.”