More than 110,000 people crossed the Mediterranean to Greece and Italy in search of new homes in the first six weeks of this year.
The new wave of crossings is causing tensions to escalate and prompting more calls to reconsider passport-free travel between the European Union states.
At the Greek-Macedonian border, dozens of taxi drivers and their cabs have blocked the crossing between the two countries.
It is the latest twist in the saga of migrants and refugees now stuck as they try to cross Europe to reach countries in the west of the continent.
For the taxi drivers, the wave of people had been a boost for business.
But now that countries lying on the route to Western Europe have organised buses and trains for them, that steady income stream has dried up.
The cabbies want the right to transport them, and the secretary of the local taxi association, Slobodan Dzonik, (ZON-ik) says they will fight until their demands are met.
"We demand that we are an integral part in the transport of migrants. Otherwise, we will block the entire territory of the municipality and the town, and not only for two or three hours, but 24/7, as they say."
Adding to the chaos on the border, Greek farmers protesting pension reform regularly block crossings on the Greek side for up to five hours a day.
New figures from the international Organisation for Migration show more than 100,000 people have arrived in Greece alone already this year after crossing the Mediterranean.
Further along the route north, several countries are restricting entry, and that is causing diplomatic tensions.
Greek government spokeswoman Olga Gerovasili has hit out at those imposing unilateral border measures that are causing severe bottlenecks.
"We have to deal with this problem together. It is not an issue that concerns only one country. It cannot be tolerated that some member countries do as they want on their own, regardless of what everyone else has agreed upon. And this should not be accepted by the European Union."
To slow the flow of people, Germany and Sweden have proposed amendments to the Schengen passport-free travel zone to give countries greater control over their borders.
German interior minister Thomas De Maiziere has called on EU member states to cooperate on amendments to the Schengen agreement.
"Until now, the systematic control of the Schengen borders was forbidden. And if you wanted to do that, then you needed a special consultation. And the proposition by the European Commission regarding terror suggests that these systematic controls should become the rule and that you could make an exception in certain cases."
Sweden's justice and migration minister, Morgan Johansson, says up to 700 people are entering that country every week.
"We can cope with that. Even though we have 180,000 people in our systems, still, we can cope with that. But we are fully aware that the only way to meet this situation is with European solutions. It would not be good for Europe if more and more countries have to deal with ... introduce national solutions. We need to find European solutions and to face this and to meet this as a European Union, and not as individual states."
Much is at stake for the European Union economically.
A German study has estimated a collapse of the Schengen zone could cost the union up to 1.4 trillion euros over the next decade.
