Centrum Stosunków Międzynarodowych - 23 February 2016: Vienna conference on blocking refugee influx

After having introduced influx caps of 80 refugees per day on the 17th of February, Austria has held a conference on refugee blockades (Managing Migration Together). The Interior and Foreign Ministers of Austria and the countries of the Western Balkans (Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, FYROM Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia) issued a declaration, which sets certain requirements. Among those are the establishment of a "joint operational center in the fight against smuggling", formulating the conditions on allowing refugees and migrants to enter and the agreement on the mutual support. The measures are to be further discussed at the summit of Interior Ministers on 25 February. The criticism comes from Greece for not being invited to the conference.