Thousands of Refugees Stuck at Slovenian Border Amid Border Crossing Caps

Thousands of undocumented migrants are being held on the Slovenian border after Ljubljana introduced a cap on the number of people passing through its border daily, media reported Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the BBC, tensions are building on the Slovenian border as migrants attempt to travel north.

Slovenia has introduced a daily limit of 2,500 migrants crossing its border, refusing Croatia’s request to put the number at 5,000, due to Austria’s own daily border crossing caps. Hungary, another migrant transit country, has closed its borders.

Over 710,000 migrants arrived in the European Union within the first nine months of 2015, according to the EU border agency Frontex, with Hungary and Slovenia just two of the many transit points for refugees on the route to the European bloc.

The migrants are leaving conflict-torn countries in Africa and the Middle East, including Syria, in search of a better life in wealthy EU countries, such as Germany and Austria.

In September, the European Commission announced a quota scheme, providing for the resettlement of 160,000 refugees currently located in Greece, Italy and Hungary, throughout other European countries.