Patching the Western Balkan migration route

Increased security on the Macedonian-Greek border provoked an accumulation of the wave of migrants in Greece. The countries located along the Western Balkan migration route – Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia and Croatia – led by Austria feared that large numbers of migrants could gather in their territories due to the restrictions imposed by some countries receiving migrants (Austria and Sweden), and made joint efforts to reduce the flow of migrants and to introduce migrant screening already on the Greek border. Along with the reduced migration pressure linked to the unfavourable weather conditions, these moves led to a radical decrease in the number of migrants on the Western Balkan route from over 3,000 in December 2015 to around 500 in the last days of February 2016.

Germany criticised the increased security on the Macedonian-Greek border as a unilateral act that would lead to Greece being excluded from the Schengen Area. Despite this, Germany refrained from making any decisive moves in order to reinstate the status quo ante. The actual situation caused a reduction in the number of people who registered themselves as refugees in Germany and allowed pressure to be placed on Greece which began organising hotspots and centres for migrants – something Germany had been unsuccessfully calling for until recently. This meant that actions taken by the Balkan countries, despite running contrary to the German rhetoric applied so far, may make it easier to develop comprehensive EU solutions to the migration crisis.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Balkan countries fear becoming buffer zone for refugees http://www.europeansources.info/record/balkan-countries-fear-becoming-buffer-zone-for-refugees/

ESO: Background information: How Macedonia found itself at the centre of Europe’s refugee crisis http://www.europeansources.info/record/how-macedonia-found-itself-at-the-centre-of-europes-refugee-crisis/

ESO: Information Guide: European Migration Challenges http://www.europeansources.info/record/information-guide-european-migration-challenges/

---