UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) — Earlier in February, Austria and Slovenia placed daily limits on a number of people entering their territory and number of asylum applications. The two countries, as well as Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia agreed to jointly profile and register refugees and asylum-seekers at the Macedonian-Greek border.
"These newest restrictive measures risk violating EU law and undermine efforts for a comprehensive and coordinated approach to deal with the refugee and migrant crisis in Europe," UNHCR said.
The agency expressed its concern over the newly-adopted practices, stressing that they create chaos at several border points and put particular pressure on Greece.
Europe has been beset by a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants fleeing their home countries to escape violence and poverty. Many of them take the West Balkan route, which crosses Greece, using the county as an entry-point to the bloc from which they travel to wealthier EU states where they intend to apply for asylum.
According to the EU border agency Frontex, the number of migrants and refugees who entered Greece by sea in January 2016 reached 68,000, 38 times higher that in the same month a year ago.
