Spotlight: Thousands of migrants stranded along Balkan route

The European Union (EU) still hasn't found a definitive solution for the thousands of migrants from conflict zones in the Middle East and Africa who remain stuck along the closed Balkan route.

This route leading from Turkey and Greece, through the Western Balkans towards Western Europe has been officially closed since February, but many still remain in the transitional border camps demanding to be allowed to continue their journey.

In the Greek border camp of Idomeni, over 11,000 migrants still hope they will be granted permission to proceed toward Western Europe. Some of them are being turned back to camps in Greece but most of them remain in Idomeni, protesting almost every day and clashing with Greek police.

"We are not leaving. We will stay here until the border opens and we can continue our journey to Germany. I won't go back. There is a war in my country," one migrant in Idomeni said.

In a sign of protest, the migrants are blocking the international railway between Greece and Macedonia costing rail transport companies in the two neighboring countries millions of euros.

"This situation has been blocking our work for the past month. The damages are highest in the railway transport of goods. We notified all international authorities that the migrant crisis at the moment is practically preventing the implementation of the main goal of the EU -- free movement of goods and people," the manager of Macedonian Railways-Transport Nikola Kostov company said to Xinhua in Skopje.

On the other side of the border, in Macedonia, the number of migrants in the transition camp has not increased in the past month. Around 130 migrants remain in the camp without an option to continue their journey. An additional 1,000 migrants are in Tabanovce, at the border between Macedonia and Serbia.

But the number of illegal border crossing attempts is increasing every day. Macedonian security forces suspect these attempts are often initiated by civil organizations for protection of human rights in Greece, but since these organizations are active in another country, they can't raise charges against them.

"Macedonia is not a party of the agreement between EU and Turkey concerning the migrants so the ones that are already on our territory could not be returned to Turkey on the basis of the provisions in this agreement," the Macedonian interior ministry explained.

"We have initiated finding a mutual solution for the faith of these people, a solution that will solve their status and will make them part of the agreement between EU and Turkey, but so far we haven't received a positive response," the Macedonian interior ministry said.

The situation of these migrants is additionally complicated by the fact bilateral cooperation between Macedonia and Greece is poor because of the unsolved name dispute between the two countries.

Moreover, during the last clashes between the migrants and the Macedonian police, Skopje authorities blamed Athens for not taking measures to prevent the migrants in Idomeni from getting to the border and the Greek officials blamed Macedonian security forces for using force in the border area.

All these issues are expected to come up at a two-day ministerial meeting among the ministers of foreign and internal affairs of Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Albania to be held on Thursday and Friday in Thessaloniki, north of Greece.

Meanwhile, EU politicians are firm in their resolution that the Balkan route has to remain closed. Austria's President Heinz Fischer in an interview for the Macedonian Information Agency (MIA) on Wednesday insisted that the Balkan route must not open.

"This road leading from Turkey and Greece straight to Germany, which was used by hundreds of thousands of people, is completely unacceptable," he said.

This view is shared by many EU officials. An official in Brussels signaled that Macedonia should consider giving asylum to the migrants stranded on its territory.

"The persons that have the right to international protection should get asylum in Macedonia and the country should ensure they have conditions for decent life," said Natasha Bertaud, spokesperson for the EU Commissioner for migration and internal affairs.

Only a few of the migrants who reached Macedonia chose to apply for asylum in the small Balkan country. Most of them see their future life only in Western Europe.

Statistics show the burden caused to EU countries by the huge migrant wave that started in 2015. The 28 member states of the EU granted protection status to 333,350 asylum seekers in 2015, during the worst migrant crisis on European soil, which is an increase of 72 percent compared with 2014, EU's statistical office Eurostat reported on Wednesday.

"Since 2008, a total of nearly 1.1 million asylum seekers have been granted protection status in the EU. ," stated Eurostat.

But for the small and weak Balkan economies, such as Macedonia's, the burden is even harder to take.

"If we continue to spend as we do now, by the end of this year we will spend almost eight percent of our total national budget alone on security forces deployed at the border, their accommodation and fuel. This is an enormous expense for us," Macedonian defense minister Zoran Jolevski explained.

So far, Macedonia has seen more praise than financial aid from the EU for its role in the migrant crisis.

The EU's border management service Frontex on Tuesday confirmed the Macedonian security forces securing the border with Greece were responsible for the reduced number of migrants reaching the EU in the past months. Frontex attributed the drop to Macedonia's decision to significantly reduce the number of migrants it allowed to enter from Greece. Enditem