Austria

Foreign and Interior Ministers of Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia met in Vienna on Wednesday to coordinate moves on reducing the flow of the migrants along the so-called Balkan route.

While thousands of refugees and migrants who arrive daily in Greek islands are trapped in the country, since FYROM has closed its border following other countries’ same tactic, the countries along Western Balkan route meet in Vienna on refugee and migrant issue, where it is expected to close their borders with Greece.

A suffocating situation has been created in Greece with thousands of refugees and migrants being trapped in the country, after FYROM closing its border for Afghans refugees and allowing only Syrian and Iraqi refugees with passports or special note received from hotspots to enter the country.

Bosnia's Defence Ministry is ready to make available five military facilities to accommodate refugees from the Middle East if their nomal route through the region changes to include Bosnia, the ministry told BIRN on Tuesday.

The European Jazz Festival will be held for the 23rd time this year between March 3 and 19 in ?zmir. The event will feature concerts as well as open events to the public such as workshops and talks The 23rd ?zmir European Jazz Festival, organized by the ?zmir Foundation for Culture and Arts (?KSEV), will be held between March 3 and 19.

Serbia on Tuesday received correspondence from Slovenia informing Belgrade that Ljubljana will only take in migrants seeking asylum in Austria and Germany.

Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic announced, reiterating that Serbia "will be acting like Austria and Germany."

The European Commission spokesperson Natasha Bertaud stated that EU was informed about the meeting to take place in Vienna among the countries of the Western Balkans route, but it was not invited.

Bulgaria sealed a deal with Royal Dutch Shell on Feb. 23 to explore for oil and gas in an offshore block in the Black Sea in a bid to end its almost total dependence on Russian natural gas.

The Foreign Ministry’s Political Director, Ambassador Petros Mavroeidis, yesterday delivered to the Austrian Ambassador here, Andrea Ikić-Böhm, a demarche regarding the initiative for organizing, in Vienna, a conference of the Interior and Foreign Ministers of Austria and the countries of the Western Balkans.

The Slovenian parliament issued a new bill on Monday that authorises the army to deploy military personnel on the border to help the police manage the flow of migrants crossing the country's checkpoints, DW News announced on Tuesday.