Brussels, 18/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - Those attending the dinner on Wednesday 17 February that was dedicated to the Western Balkans migration route underlined the need to avoid a humanitarian crisis in the region and to implement the decisions taken at their mini-summit on 25 October. These decisions focused in particular on the commitment to create 100,000 places for refugees - 50,000 in Greece and 50,000 for the other Balkans countries.
Twelve countries met at the end of Wednesday afternoon and a dinner in a more restricted format took place later, bringing together European Council President Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and the leaders of Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).
A Commission spokesperson stated on Thursday lunchtime, however, that the dinner was dominated by the decisions announced by Austria on Wednesday to limit to 80 the number of asylum seekers authorised to enter Austrian territory per day.
As a justification, the Austrian interior minister stated: “Austria is one of the most requested member states and is coming to the limit of what it can endure”. On Tuesday 16 February, Austria had already announced the implementation of general controls at its borders with Italy, Slovenia and Hungary in order to put a brake on the entry of asylum seekers. At a press conference with European Parliament President Martin Schulz on Thursday morning, Juncker said that these new Austrian measures might not be in line with European law and that the Commission would examine them.
“I don't like (Austria's) decision” Juncker added, deeming that this measure raises the issue of “being in line with European law”. According to US newspaper Wall Street Journal, European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos has furthermore written a letter to the Austrian authorities, saying that this limit on asylum seekers runs counter to European legislation. Juncker was due to speak to Austria's Chancellor Werner Faymann about this on the sidelines of the European summit on Thursday afternoon. Austria's decision could also feed the discussions of the heads of state and government at the dinner on Thursday 18 February on the migration crisis and possibly add “tension”, a European source believed. Upon arriving in Brussels, Faymann defended these measures, which are “a right, but also a duty”, he said. He added that his country, Germany and Sweden “can't resolve the crisis on their own”.
Another informal meeting on the sidelines of the European summit was expected on Thursday morning, to be dedicated to the issue of resettling the Syrian refugees from Turkey and to the EU-Turkey action plan on illegal immigration. This meeting “of volunteers”, in which 11 countries were due to take part, has nevertheless been cancelled due to the attacks in Ankara and the cancellation of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's visit to Brussels. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)