Macedonia has said it will no longer let any migrants through its border with Greece, effectively blocking the Balkan route north.
The decision came after Slovenia barred access to migrants transiting the country. Croatia and Serbia then said they would follow suit.
Some 13,000 migrants are now stranded at the Macedonia-Greece border.
The moves come after the EU and Turkey set out a plan to ease Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since World War Two.
Under the plan, still to be finalised, all migrants arriving in Greece from Turkey would be sent back. For each Syrian returned, a Syrian in Turkey would be resettled in the EU.
Announcing the plan on Monday, European Council President Donald Tusk, said there would no longer be a path to Europe for migrants. “The days of irregular migration to Europe are over,” he said.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants have travelled through Macedonia over the past year, heading north.
But Macedonia began to limit the numbers, first to Syrian, Afghan and Iraqi migrants, then recently to just a trickle – mainly Syrians from areas it considered conflict zones.
This created a bottleneck, with migrants now living in a sprawling camp at the Idomeni crossing.
Macedonia’s announcement came after Slovenia said late on Tuesday that it would allow in only migrants who planned to seek asylum in the country, or those with clear humanitarian needs.
Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar said the country’s move meant that “the Balkan route for illegal migration no longer exists”.
–
Source: BBC