Stranded refugees sleep as they wait to be allowed to cross the Greek-Macedonian border near the northern Greek village of Idomeni. (AP PHOTO)
Limassol, Cyprus — The rift over how to handle Europe’s immigration crisis ripped wide open Friday. As nations along the Balkans migrant route took more unilateral actions to shut down their borders, diplomats from EU nations bordering the Mediterranean rallied around Greece, the epicenter of the crisis.
Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides — speaking on behalf of colleagues from France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Malta and Greece — said decisions on how to deal with the migrant influx that have already been made by the 28-nation bloc cannot be implemented selectively by some countries.
“This issue is testing our unity and ability to handle it,” Kasoulides told a news conference after an EU Mediterranean Group meeting. “The EU Med Group are the frontline states and we all share the view that unilateral actions cannot be a solution to this crisis.”
Kasoulides urged EU countries to enact all EU decisions on immigration so there “will be no unfairness to anybody.”
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias blasted some European nations for imposing border restrictions on arriving migrants, saying that police chiefs are not allowed to decide to overturn EU decisions.
He said Mediterranean colleagues were “unanimous” in their support for Greece’s position on the refugee crisis and that there was “clear criticism to all those who are seeking individual solutions at the expense of other member states.”
The Greek government is blaming Austria — a fellow member of Europe’s passport-free Schengen Area — for the flare-up in the crisis. Austria imposed strict border restrictions last week, creating a domino effect as those controls were also implemented by Balkan countries further south along the Balkans migration route.
Greece recalled its ambassador to Austria on Thursday and rejected a request to visit Athens by Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner.
The United Nations secretary-general expressed “great concern” Friday at the growing number of border restrictions along the migrant trail through Europe.
Ban Ki-moon’s spokesman said the UN chief is calling on all countries to keep their borders open and says he is “fully aware of the pressures felt by many European countries.”
The statement noted in particular the new restrictions in Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia.