26 February 2016•Update: 29 February 2016
By Vasiliki Mitsiniotou
ATHENS
Greece recalled its ambassador to Austria on Thursday in response to the Vienna meeting of West Balkan countries on the refugee influx without Greece, which it called an “unfriendly act”.
According to the Greek Foreign Ministry, the Greek ambassador to Vienna “is being called to Athens for consultations aimed at safeguarding the friendly relations between the states and peoples of Greece and Austria”.
Earlier on Wednesday, Austria and nine Balkan countries agreed to limit the number of migrants crossing their borders and in a joint statement said: “The migration flow along the Western Balkans route needs to be substantially reduced.
“Common sense dictates that effective handling of this complex problem should be governed by the principles of solidarity and fair burden sharing,” the Foreign Minsitry said.
After the Vienna meeting, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called Austria’s behavior “unacceptable”.
“Greece will not agree to deals if the allocation of responsibilities among member countries is not secured,” said the Greek premier.
A total of at least 102,547 refugees and immigrants have passed through Greece this year according to International Organization for Migration (IOM). About 3,000 people wait at the northern Greek border where continuous border restrictions have already created a backlog of people, police said.
The restrictions introduced by Balkan countries were criticized by United Nations High Commissioner Filippo Grandi who was in Athens on Wednesday.
“[These] restrictions probably go against even European rules and regulations and certainly against basic refugee protection laws,” he said.
