EU rift due to crisis response worsens

LJUBLJANA—Migrants streaming across the Balkans reached Slovenia on Saturday after they were diverted by the closure of Hungary’s border with Croatia in the latest demonstration of Europe’s disjointed response to the flow of people reaching its borders.

In Germany, a mayoral candidate active in helping refugees was seriously wounded on Saturday in what police described as a stabbing with a “racist political” motive, heaping further pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel over the migrant crisis.

Hungary’s rightwing government declared its southern frontier with Croatia off-limits to migrants, blocking entry with a metal fence and razor wire, just as it did a month ago on its border with Serbia.

Croatia began directing migrants west to Slovenia.

Aid agencies are concerned about backlogs of migrants building in the Balkans, battered by autumn winds and rain as temperatures drop before winter.

Hungary said it had reinstated border controls on its frontier with Slovenia, effectively suspending Europe’s Schengen system of passport-free travel, though it said it was acting within the Schengen rules.

Hungary earlier said it was duty-bound to protect the borders of the European Union (EU) from the tide of migrants, most of them Muslims. Hungary said they threatened the prosperity, security and “Christian values” of Europe.

With several other ex-communist members of the European Union, Hungary opposes a plan by the bloc to share out 120,000 refugees among its members, many of them fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

The German chancellor expressed her “shock” over the stabbing in Cologne of mayoral hopeful Henriette Reker and her aide.

The stabbing came as Merkel was preparing to travel to Istanbul for talks on the crisis with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Merkel was hoping to secure Turkey’s help in stemming the flow of migrants from the Middle East to Europe, but without being seen to sacrifice their human rights.

Merkel has resisted pressure to tighten Germany’s border controls and turn away refugees arriving from Austria, even as Germany expects up to one million new arrivals this year.

AFP IMAGES of refugees streaming past wire fences to board a train bound for Serbia from the Macedonian- Greek border, evoke a time of a world at war. About 630,000 people fleeing conflict in Syria and other countries have illegally entered the European...