Migrants  gathering around a bonfire to warm themselves as they wait to be transported to a refugee centre after crossing the Croatian-Slovenian border near Rigonce, Slovenia, yesterday.

Reuters
Sofia



European leaders traded threats and reprimands yesterday as thousands more migrants and refugees streamed into the Balkans on the eve of European Union talks aimed at agreeing on urgent action to tackle the crisis.
Concern is growing about hundreds of thousands of migrants arriving in Europe, many from war zones in the Middle East, and camping in western Balkan countries in ever colder conditions as winter approaches.
More than 680,000 migrants and refugees have crossed to Europe by sea so far this year, fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, according to the International Organisation for Migration.
Bulgaria, Serbia and Romania said they would close their borders if Germany or other countries shut the door on refugees, warning they would not let the Balkan region become a “buffer
zone” for stranded migrants.
“The three countries, we are standing ready, if Germany and Austria close their borders, not to allow our countries to become buffer zones. We will be ready to close borders,” Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov told reporters.
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has invited the leaders of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia to today’s mini-summit.
The aim of the meeting is to agree “common operational conclusions which could be immediately implemented.”
German media have reported that Juncker will present a 16-point plan, including an undertaking not to send migrants from one country to another without prior agreement.
Slovenia, which said on Friday it would consider putting up a fence on its border with Croatia unless a solution is found on Sunday, said the EU “must ease the burden on the most exposed countries”.
It called for “EU action that would stop the uncontrolled migration flows on the outer borders of the EU”.
Almost all the migrants are entering the EU via its poorer members in south-eastern Europe and heading north to seek asylum in countries including Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands.
Leaders of the richer Western states worry that large-scale immigration will boost support for the xenophobic far-right.