European Union interior ministers are meeting in Brussels to try to forge a consensus on a highly divisive plan to distribute 120,000 refugees throughout the 28-nation bloc according to mandatory quotas, the day before an emergency summit of EU leaders.
Nearly 500,000 people, mainly fleeing wars in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, have reached European shores by sea this year. Despite their best efforts, no government has been able to stop their onwards march towards northern Europe.
Slovenia’s prime minister, Miro Cerar, said the migration crisis threatened the very existence of the EU unless a long-term solution was found. A full deal on how to address the incoming refugees and migrants was unlikely this week and might take another “few weeks or more”, he said.
Slovenia, an EU and eurozone member with a population of 2 million, has seen 3,000 migrants cross its border with Croatia since last week, and is braced for many more.
The UN has previously warned that Europe’s unity is at risk, and many countries are wary of agreeing to any deal. The Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia are vehemently opposed to the quota plan, while Latvia and Poland are sceptical.
Some governments fear that the influx of refugees, though still tiny in comparison with the EU’s total population, will alter the fabric of European society. On Tuesday, the Czech Republic said it was sticking to its position of rejecting any mandatory quota system.
The UN high commissioner for refugees said the proposal on the table was not enough to stabilise the situation, given the numbers that had already entered Europe by sea this year. It urged the EU to quickly set up facilities in Greece, where tens of thousands have arrived after making the hazardous sea crossing from Turkey.
Germany’s Interior minister, Thomas de Maizière, predicted a difficult meeting. Arriving at the talks, he said: “This will be a hard meeting. I’m not sure that we will have a result. We will work hard and I think it is unacceptable if Europe sends a message to the world that today there is no possible solution. So in the end I’m optimistic, but it is not done yet.”
Refugees hoping to reach the safety of the EU faced a fresh obstacle on Tuesday morning after Croatian police blocked off part of the country’s border with Serbia, which in recent days had become the main entry point to the EU for thousands of people walking north from Greece.
More than 2,000 refugees were stranded overnight in no man’s land between the Croatian village of Tovarnik and the Serbian town of Šid, medics on the scene told the Guardian.
Other refugees were subsequently allowed passage through a second crossing, near the town of Bapska, to the north. But the development at Tovarnik marks the first time Croatia has attempted to stop refugees from entering its territory since it became the primary refugee route to northern Europe last week.
Associated Press and Reuters contributed this report
