More migrants crossed the Mediterranean headed for Europe in the first two months of 2016 than in the first half of last year, the United Nations refugee agency said Tuesday.
The agency said that more than 130,000 people made the crossing and 410 died on the journey since New Year.
The vast majority (122,637) of arrivals came via the Aegean Sea and landed in Greece, which is under pressure from EU states to secure its borders and register asylum-seekers.
“Greece cannot manage this situation alone,” the UNHCR said in a statement. “It remains absolutely vital therefore that the relocation efforts that Europe agreed to in 2015 are prioritized and implemented. It should concern everyone that despite commitments to relocate 66,400 refugees from Greece, states have so far only pledged 1,539 spaces, and only 325 actual relocations have occurred.”
On Friday, having already recalled its ambassador to Vienna earlier in the week, the Greek government declined Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner’s request to visit Greece. Athens is angry at Austria’s decision to cap the number of asylum-seekers it takes in, which it fears will lead to more people remaining in Greece.
Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov said Monday that the Western Balkan route to Central and Western Europe could shut down following Austria’s move.
Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann on Saturday likened Greece’s behavior to that of a “travel agency” for asylum-seekers by sending them on to the rest of Europe.
Faymann is meeting European Council President Donald Tusk in Vienna on Tuesday ahead of a critical EU-Turkey summit on migration on March 7.
Meanwhile, Greece has called in the military to set up camps in order to accommodate migrants on its territory.
UNHCR said Tuesday: “As of last night (Monday), the number of refugees and migrants in Greece and needing accommodation had soared to 24,000.”
There were chaotic scenes at the border village of Idomeni on Monday morning when some migrants tried to force their way into Macedonia after being stopped at the border.