Roundup: Migration issue top agenda of Western Balkans summit

The migration issue will top the agenda of the Western Balkans summit in Vienna as the region is facing an unprecedented number of transiting migrants, local media predicted Thursday.

Prime ministers of six Western Balkans countries as well as of Germany, France, Italy, Croatia and Slovenia were invited to join the event.

The Summit on Thursday will seek to further develop the co-operation between the countries in dealing with their common challenges.

Migration is set to dominate the summit on the Western Balkans as senior commission officials, foreign ministers, and leaders gather in Vienna, EU observer, an online newspaper based in Brussels reported.

Europe is struggling to deal with the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War with high influxes of people seeking refuge within its border.

Some 237,000 migrants have reached Europe by sea this year, most landing in Italy and Greece. Over 2,300 have died during the crossing, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Syrians made up a third of the migrants who flooded across the Mediterranean to Europe during the first half of 2015.

The European Union (EU) border agency Frontex noted that the Western Balkans region has became a transit area of irregular migrants from Greece following the introduction of visa-free travel within the EU.

From member states in the region migrants absconded to proceed to other EU countries, particularly Austria and Germany, where they applied for asylum.

A number of 35,000 arrived in Hungary in the month of July alone, meaning the country is joining Italy and Greece as the EU member states most exposed on the frontline.

In an effort to stem the flow, the Hungarian government has decided to build a fence along the Hungarian-Serbian border.

Faced with the situation, Macedonian authorities declared a "state of emergency" on its southern and northern borderline last Thursday, sending off both police and armed forces to control the increased migrant influx and transit.

The number of migrants trying to reach Europe is continuing to rise as a result of Syria's conflict growing and no end in sight. More than four million Syrians have fled the civil war to become refugees in the surrounding region.

Migration caused serious problems for Balkan countries, most of whom have neither resources nor facilities to accommodate migrants in such huge numbers.

Ahead of the Summit, the European Commission has released an additional 1.5 million euros (1.69 million U.S. dollars) in humanitarian funding to assist refugees and migrants in Serbia and Macedonia to help with the provision of basic emergency services.

IOM Director General William Lacy Swing pointed out that, "The expected number of arrivals may appear high. But it is a number that could be easily absorbed by the European Union (EU), a huge area with over 500 million people."

"In order to do so, EU member states must cooperate to develop a more coherent and humanitarian approach," said Swing. Enditem