Roundup: Macedonian railway connection with Greece interrupted due to migrant crisis

Macedonian media reported on Tuesday that the railway connection between Macedonia and Greece has been suspended due to migrant crisis.

At least six trains from Greece were stopped on their journey to Macedonia at Idomeni, the northern border area in Greece waiting for Macedonian authorities to open the border.

The Greek Idomeni camp currently accommodates nearly 9,000 refugees with some of them waiting for days to cross the border and continue their journey towards Western Europe.

In the meantime, Macedonian Foreign Minister, Nikola Poposki declared that "What we have seen is some four hundred young male trying forcibly to enter Macedonian territory from Greece."

"I don't think this is in line with what we have agreed at a European level. If you ask me, the easiest thing to do for Macedonia is to simply pull out and let all the migrants cross its territory on the way to Western European countries. It is precisely what EU member states have been lobbying against," he added.

According to Poposki, the last thing Macedonia would like to do is to invest public funds in fencing a border.

"This is a small section and it's done with one single purpose - preventing illegal crossing. It's not something that is good, but we definitely need to prevent illegal migration if we want to act responsibly," stated Poposki, adding that Europe currently does not have a system to manage the crisis, and each country has to bear its part of the responsibility on its own territory.

Over the past 24 hours, Macedonian Ministry of Interior has issued 210 certificates to foreign nationals expressing the intention to seek asylum.

Since the beginning of 2016, the Macedonian Interior Ministry has issued a total of 87,837 certificates to migrants who have expressed the intention to seek asylum. Endit