EU warned over migrant winter influx

The European Union has been warned if it can't control the influx of migrants it risks grave consequences. It comes as thousands of refugees continue to cross European borders, despite Winter temperatures dropping well below zero in many countries.

EU warned over migrant winter influxEU warned over migrant winter influx

EU warned over migrant winter influx

About 1,000 people are crossing from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia into Serbia daily, where temperatures can drop to minus-20 degrees Celsius.

 

Humanitarian organisations are reporting possible cases of frostbite and hypothermia.

 

This Syrian refugee says the weather is taking its toll, but they remain optimistic.

 

"I didn't have to think much about weather in Syria. The children are having a harder time with it. And to come all the way from Syria, it's a long distance."

 

Scenes of frustration and desperation are unfolding in Norway's cold, as asylum seeker Rami Haddad explains.

 

"Everybody here, all these families including the kids, nobody is eating. No money, nowhere to go, they don't speak Russian and once we cross the border nobody will help us."

 

There've been hunger strikes as Norwegian authorities plan to transfer the first of thousands of people to Russia.

 

It comes as the President of the European Council Donald Tusk issued a stark warning.

 

"We have no more than two months to get things under control. The statistics over the Christmas period are not encouraging with over 2,000 arrivals to the EU per day."

 

Mr Tusk also warned failure to control the influx of refugees could see the collapse of the passport-free Schengen zone.

 

The redistribution of migrants has been high on the agenda during a meeting between the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

 

Representatives reaffirmed their opposition to a plan to redistribute thousands of refugees from Italy and Greece among the bloc's 28 nations.

 

The Polish Interior Minister urging the E-U to follow Australia's approach...

 

"It should send a clear message to the Middle East that we are ready to help the refugees but to help them where they are now, in the camps in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan."

 

The United Nations refugee agency estimates more than a million migrants sought sanctuary in Europe last year.






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