Merkel criticises closing of Balkan route
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has criticised Balkan nations for closing borders to migrants. In the past 24 hours four Balkan states have closed their borders to migrants without documents and EU visas.
After Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia and Macedonia closed their borders to migrants over the past day, Merkel said Wednesday the Balkan nations’ measures to stop the flow of migrants would be unsustainable without a broader EU response to the refugee crisis.
Closing borders “is not the solution to the entire problem,” Merkel said. Rather there must be an agreement among the EU’s 28 members, she said.
Merkel’s comments clashed with European Union President Donald Tusk, who earlier had welcomed the change, saying the Balkan states were simply implementing an important part of the EU plan to tackle the refugee crisis.
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(Archive photo of Merkel and Tusk: EC Audiovisual Service)
