Tension rises in Balkans as Slovenia limits refugee flow

While Croatia had asked its northern neighbor Slovenia to accept 5,000 refugees daily, Slovenia announced Sunday that it will only take 2,500 refugees to cross its borders daily as per Austria's limitation policy.

Slovenian Interior Ministry Secretery Bostjan Sefic said at a press conference in Ljubljana that "Croatia has demanded that we manage 5,000 migrants per day while Austria has told us that, due to the pressure they are under, they can't handle more than 1,500 people a day."

Although Croatia requested that Slovenia receive more people, we cannot afford increased numbers due to limited capacities, he added.

Slovenia accepts as many refugees as Austria and Germany could take and does not allow them to locate in Slovenia. So Sefic said Slovenia "cannot accept unlimited numbers of migrants if we know that they cannot continue on their journey." "If we accept 5,000 migrants per day that would mean 35,000 migrants in Slovenia in 10 days," he said. "That would be unacceptable."

Sefic also stated that its country refused to accept another train with refugees on board from Croatia Sunday, after receiving up to 2,250 refugees.

“Today, Slovenia received a train carrying some 1,800 people, and expects another 300 to 350 in the afternoon at the Obrezje border crossing, so it has not agreed to accept a new train from Croatia with another 1,800 people," the ministry said.

Due to closed Hungary borders, tens of refugees en route to Germany have been directed toward Slovenia. Slovenia fears that if Croatia continues to take more refugees than it is able to send forward, there could be a "spill-over" of refugees. However, the limitation of Slovenia has already led to a build-up of refugees on Croatia's border with so many refugees forced to wait in the cold and the rain at the border.

The Balkan migrant route switched to Slovenia early Saturday after Hungary's right-wing government sealed its border to Croatia on Friday midnight while the Hungarian border with Serbia was already closed off on Sept. 14.

Hungary has erected a steel fence almost the length of its southern frontier with Serbia and Croatia, saying it is duty-bound to secure the borders of the European Union from the threat of mainly Muslim migrants, for the prosperity, security and "Christian values" of Europe.

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), so far more than 600,000 refugees have reached Europe this year compared to just over 200,000 for the whole of 2014.