EU leaders move to slow down refugee arrivals

European and Balkan leaders have agreed on measures to slow the movement of tens of thousands whose flight from war and poverty has overwhelmed border guards and reception centres and heightened tension among nations along the route to the European Union’s heartland.

In a statement to paper over the deep divisions about how to handle the crisis, the leaders committed to bolster the borders of Greece as it struggles to cope with the wave of refugees from Syria and beyond that cross over through Turkey.