Macedonia

Greece has increased efforts to move thousands of migrants near the border with Macedonia to sheltered camps, as the spread of infection became a concern with one person in a sprawling tent city diagnosed with Hepatitis A. 

Bulgaria will send humanitarian assistance to the migrants and refugees stuck at Greece's border with Macedonia in adverse weather conditions, the government in Sofia announced on Friday.

The assistance will comprise tents, beds, blankets and heating materials as specified by the Greek authorities in a letter sent to Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry, the cabinet said in a statement.

Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has slammed at some media outlets for their coverage of the migrant crisis.

Pressure is mounting on the Greek government and most importantly on Greek society due to the refugee crisis, as neighbouring countries are taking tougher measures to safeguard their borders from the flow of thousands of people wanting to reach the north of Europe.

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 has closed its border "completely" to illegal migrants after Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia announced tight new restrictions on migrant entry, a police official said on March 9.

"Balkan refugee route is no more," Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar said on television late Tuesday, after his government wired Balkan capitals that it was closing the border to "irregular migrants".

Serbia announced on Tuesday that the so-called Balkans route used by migrants to reach western Europe will be de-facto closed following Slovenia's decision to deny entry into the EU's free-travel Schengen zone to migrants without valid visas and passports, Tanjug reported.

There is no heightened migrant pressure on Bulgarian borders, with the number of refugees passing through the country's borders comparable to the figures from last year.

This was announced by Antonio Angelov, director of border police, in an interview for the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) on Tuesday.

Brussels and Ankara on Tuesday agreed in principle to curb the migrant flow from Turkey into Europe, in return for additional aid to Turkey.

No final decision has been taken yet, and a new EU meeting will come up with a final position on March 17-18.