Border barrier

European Union interior ministers discussed on Thursday ways to curb illegal immigration and return more migrants amid a surge in arrivals following lows during the pandemic, Reuters reported.

The agency notes that controversial ideas about border fences and centers for asylum seekers outside Europe have been revived.

Ljubljana – Just four kilometres of razor wire fence along the border with Croatia has been removed so far, according to a government report released on Thursday.

The army started removing the razor wire on 15 July and a contractor was supposed to take over, but an open call failed since just one bid was received and even that one was incomplete.

Bulgarian caretaker Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov told Parliament that migration pressure on the country is increasing. "We are indeed seeing an increased migration pressure, the kind of pressure that also existed before the caretaker government took office," Rashkov said during a parliamentary hearing on 30 July.

Spain has deployed troops after record numbers of migrants entered its north African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco.

Some 8,000 people have reached Ceuta in two days, Spanish officials say.

They say the migrants - who include about 1,500 minors - either swam around the border fences that jut out into the sea or walked across at low tide.

Construction of a border fence at the Evros land border with Turkey is proceeding and the project will be ready in a few months' time, Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chryssochoidis says.

In an interview with Skai Sunday, Chryssochoidis said that, at the moment, at least, Turkey is not engaging in provocative actions and that, in any case, the government is "absolutely calm."

Greece will take steps to secure its land border with Turkey, also by completing the extension of a fence to the southern section of the Evros River, to stop migrants from crossing into the European Union, Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said Wednesday, accusing Ankara of conducting a "hybrid" warfare against Greece and the EU.

A video released by the Greek government Saturday evening apparently shows a Turkish vehicle puling down, with the help of a rope, a section of the fence erected by Greece on its border with Turkey.

The video, shot Friday night, was accompanied by the following statement:

Several hundred migrants and refugees who tried to cross the border from Serbia to Hungary on Thursday night have been turned back by Hungarian police and moved to camps in Serbia.

The group arrived at the Kelebia-Tompa border crossing and spent the night protesting and attempting in vain to enter Hungary. Most came from Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, Morocco and Palestine.

Suddenly, someone jumped from the bushes.

"The dog reacted by biting, which is a natural defence reaction for service dogs," said a Frontex internal report filed shortly after the October 11, 2016 incident.

More than 150 migrants crossed the border fence at Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta early on Aug. 30 and at least six Spanish police officers suffered minor injuries as they tried to stop them, a government spokesman in the city said.