EU, Balkan leaders agree to expand border operations, provide shelter

PanARMENIAN.Net - European and Balkan leaders agreed on measures early Monday, October 26, to slow the movement of tens of thousands whose flight from war and poverty has overwhelmed border guards and reception centers and heightened tension among nations along the route to the European Union's heartland, the Associated Press reports.

In a statement to paper over deep divisions about how to handle the crisis, the leaders committed to bolster the borders of Greece as it struggles to cope with the wave of refugees from Syria and beyond that cross over through Turkey.

The leaders decided that reception capacities should be boosted in Greece and along the Balkans migration route to shelter another100,000 refugees as winter looms.

They also agreed to expand border operations and make full use of biometric data like fingerprints as they register and screen migrants, before deciding whether to grant them asylum or send them home.

"The immediate imperative is to provide shelter," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said after chairing the mini-summit of 11 regional leaders in Brussels.

Nearly 250,000 people have passed through the Balkans since mid-September.

"This is one of the greatest litmus tests that Europe has ever faced," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters after the summit. "Europe has to demonstrate that it is a continent of values and of solidarity."

But the country that many say is another key source of the flow — Turkey — was not invited, and some leaders said that little could be done without its involvement.