But new laws came into force in Hungary on September 15 under which any person who enters the country illegally can be jailed for up to three years.
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Sixty were detained on Tuesday for breaching the barrier – a day after a record 9,380 made the crossing.
The Serbian minister in charge of the government’s working committee on migrants, Aleksandar Vulin, argued that the closure of the border by Hungary was unsustainable for Serbia. One refugee told The Guardian, “We’ve travelled so far, thousands of kilometers, and now they’re closing the borders”.
As the shockwaves rippled across Europe, Slovakia said it would impose controls on its borders with Hungary and Austria.
He said that Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has suggested – “and I find that right” – that “we should talk about (them) getting less money from the structural funds”. “Do we have to catch a boat?”
Until this week, the vast majority of refugees travelled up from Greece, through Macedonia and Serbia into Hungary.
The group of mostly Syrian or Afghan men, women and children crossed the border – which was marked by nothing more than a stone – early Wednesday morning and were picked up by police as they walked across a field.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban says he expects a high rate of asylum requests that are submitted to be rejected. Crowds of refugees have gathered outside the fence, desperate to cross into the European Union.
“[Serbia] wants to be part of the solution, not collateral damage”. “There is so much suffering in Mauritania, so many problems for our family, no work”. Croatia also borders Slovenia, which leads to Italy and Austria.
Germany’s decision to deploy police on borders and trains could trigger “a domino effect and then we can forget Schengen“, he said, referring to the 1985 agreement that gradually removed passport checks on most European borders.
The temporary reintroduction of border controls between member states is an exceptional possibility explicitly foreseen in and regulated by the Schengen Borders Code, in case of a crisis situation, the statement said, adding that the current situation in Austria would be closely monitored.
But Hungary’s fence and its criminalisation of unofficial border crossings has brought a halt to the flow of people across Serbia.
Political leaders dialled up the pressure on Tuesday – Germany’s interior minister, Thomas de Maiziere, said countries which refuse quotas could have their European Union funding cut.
“I think we need to establish a European spirit again…”
The survey also showed support for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc slipping 1.5 points to 40 percent, still the strongest party by far, but its lowest reading since late June.
She called for unity in relocating asylum seekers across member states.
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They have been summoned back to Brussels next Tuesday but diplomats said those calling for national refugee quotas were loath to simply outvote their eastern neighbours.
