Drone Media Studio
Migrants landing in Greece
As of March 10
Last year
200,000
150,000
100,000
This year
50,000
0
Jan.
June
Dec.
Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia and Macedonia effectively closed their borders to new migrants this week. And the European Union is expected to finalize next week an agreement with Turkey aimed at halting the flow to Greece, a member of the bloc. Under the deal, migrants landing in Greece would be automatically returned to Turkey.
The border closings have left thousands of migrants stranded along the route between Greece and other countries.
On the border between Greece and Macedonia, near the town of Idomeni, there are currently about 12,000 people waiting to cross. About two-thirds of them are women and children.
“Imagine how it feels to be in this situation,” said Babar Baloch, a spokesman for the United Nations’ refugee program, referring to storms that soaked the makeshift camps this week.
More than 856,000 migrants took the Balkans route last year, and the flow through the region remained high during the winter. With the closing of this route, European officials expect that migrants and smugglers will look for alternatives.
SLOVAKIA
GERMANY
AUSTRIA
HUNGARY
Route shut
ROMANIA
SLOVENIA
CROATIA
Black
Sea
BOSNIA AND
HERZ.
SERBIA
Recently
closed
borders
BULGARIA
MONT.
KOS.
Adriatic
Sea
MACED.
ALBANIA
TURKEY
ITALY
100 Miles
GREECE
Possible
alternative
routes
Athens
Mediterranean Sea
From Egypt or Libya
HUNGARY
Route shut
AUSTRIA
SLOVENIA
ROMANIA
Black
Sea
CROATIA
SERBIA
Recently
closed
borders
BULGARIA
MACED.
ALBANIA
ITALY
TURKEY
GREECE
Possible
alternative
routes
Athens
Mediterranean Sea
200 Miles
From Egypt or Libya
“What usually happens is that old routes get reactivated,” said Ewa Moncure, a spokeswoman for Frontex, the European Union’s border protection agency. The agency expects to see an increase in the use of the routes from Greece to Italy, or from Turkey directly to Italy and Bulgaria.
The boat trip to Italy from Greece and Turkey is much longer than the already dangerous crossing from Turkey to Greece. The route through Bulgaria could also require a boat crossing, because of a border fence. It also requires a much longer land journey to European Union countries.
