Hungary: Fence Stopped Them!
Source: news.yahoo.com
Hungary said Monday its shutdown of the border with Croatia had put a stop to the influx of migrants and refugees.
Only 41 people crossed into the EU member state on Sunday, the government said.
"The border closure is working, it has effectively stopped illegal border-crossing," government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs told reporters in Nagykanizsa, close to the Croatian border.
"The Hungarian government is determined to keep the measures in place as long as is needed," he said.
"We are continuously monitoring the situation at the Slovenian, Croatian and Serbian borders, and are ready to react to any situation which might develop."
The figure of 41 represents a new daily record low in 2015 for Hungary, which witnessed up to 10,000 people stream across its borders daily since the summer.
The country has been a key transit point on the western Balkan route used by thousands of people who have fled violence in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
In total, some 390,685 have passed through Hungary since the beginning of the year, according to latest police figures.
In a bid to stem the influx, Hungary sealed its Croatian border with a razor-wire fence early Saturday, barely a month after it shut its frontier with Serbia.
The Hungarian government's latest move has pushed the migrants toward fellow EU member Slovenia, a tiny nation of two million.
The Slovenian interior ministry warned Sunday it would be forced to slow down the rapidly rising influx of migrants.
Slovenian authorities on Monday blocked more than 1,000 people from entering the country, saying its daily intake quota had been reached.
The action has caused delays further down the migrant trail, with hundreds of people stuck in heavy rain and freezing temperatures near Croatia's border with Serbia.
From the Greece-Macedonia border, the main migrant route now goes up through Macedonia to Serbia, then through Croatia, Slovenia and Austria to Germany -- the preferred destination for many.
Source: news.yahoo.com
