Gevgelija

Austria's foreign minister says closing the so-called "Balkan route" to migrants seeking to reach central and northern Europe was the right move.

Several dozen migrants managed to illegally cross from Greece into Macedonia on April 24 -- a border that has been shut since February, an AFP photographer reported.
 

Macedonia has also moved to close its borders to migrants traveling on the so-called Western Balkan route.

No new arrival of asylum-seekers in the Gevgelija refugee transit centre has been registered for more than fifty hours, which means that this section of the Western Balkan route has been practically closed.

Macedonia's decision in November to bar so-called economic migrants from entry has revitalised old illegal migrant trafficking routes, local residents and police officers told BIRN.

Photographs of today’s refugees sweeping through Syria look remarkably like images snapped years ago.  A dig through the UNICEF photo archives has uncovered a children’s crisis the world thought we would never see again.Sadly, as the gallery shows, it becomes evident that children moving across borders to stay safe is not new.

Macedonia will do whatever is needed to prevent unauthorized crossing of its borders, the country's Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki has said.

The Macedonian authorities will take action to redirect migrants to border points where they can be properly registered, Poposki told foreign ambassadors in Skopje, according to MIA.

Macedonian authorities say they will investigate whether the state-owned firm Makedonski Zeleznici, MZ, has profited from thousands of refugees who have to use its services by hiking the prices.

The authorities say they will investigate the claim following complaints from rights organisations.

After marathon talks, Macedonia's political parties have agreed on the appointment of a special prosecutor who will be tasked with investigating the illegal surveillance claims that have rocked the government.

"A deal was reached. We have a prosecutor," Antonio Milososki, from the negotiating team of the ruling VMRO DPMNE party, tweeted on Tuesday morning.

Kurz said on Monday during a visit to Macedonia that the Western Balkans needs urgent help from the European Union in coping with the humanitarian crisis caused by the swelling number of refugees entering Macedonia and Serbia on the way to the EU.

More than 1,500 mostly Syrian refugees, trapped in a no-man's land for three days, entered Macedonia from Greece on Aug. 22, after police allowed them to pass despite earlier trying to hold back the crowd using stun grenades.