Balkan route experiences renaissance

EU Interior Ministers will discuss the rising refugee numbers on the so-called Balkan route in Luxembourg on Friday. Michael Spindelegger, former Austrian Vice-Chancellor and now the Head of the International Migration Center ICMPD in Vienna warns of numbers like in 2015 and speaks of an „alarm signal.“

The Western Balkans route from Greece via northern Macedonia and Serbia to Hungary and Austria is back in the headlines for the first time since the refugee crisis peaked. The issue is on the agenda of EU Interior Ministers in Luxembourg this Friday. „In Austria, we are likely to reach the same number of illegal border crossings this year as in 2015,“ predicts Michael Spindelegger, Director General of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) in Vienna.

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