Influx of refugees into EU continues

The flow of Syrians, Afghans and others through the Balkans toward western Europe continued unabated as European leaders gathered in Brussels to try and work out a plan to deal with the massive influx of asylum seekers.

At the Brezice camp in Slovenia near the border with Croatia, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency urged leaders to come up with a system to register and screen newcomers when they first enter Europe, rather than piecemeal along the way. “But also very important is to help Syria’s neighbouring countries where there are around four million refugees,” said UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch. “These people don’t need to take these risky journeys if there are legal pathways to come to Europe.”

The leaders of EU members Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania and Slovenia were invited to the Brussels summit along with two non-members, Macedonia and Serbia. Nearly 250,000 migrants have passed through the Balkans since mid-September.