EU members cautiously welcome action plan

LJUBLJANA—European countries facing an unprecedented influx of migrants on Monday cautiously welcomed new plans to help stem the crisis.

A 17-point plan, announced after emergency talks between the heads of 10 European Union (EU) nations and non-EU Albania, Serbia and Macedonia, included an undertaking that no country would let migrants through to an adjoining state without prior agreement.

It also sped up information exchanges among countries to coordinate their efforts.

In the small Alpine nation of Slovenia, which had been swamped by migrants in recent days, government spokesman Bojan Sefic described the outcome as “a lot of progress” with the promise of “more cooperation.”

Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar earlier warned it was “crucial” that commitments made at the summit were fulfilled without delay.

In Austria, Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said decisions made in Brussels were “a step in the right direction.”

On Monday, Greece informed EU members that it could accommodate 20,000 more migrants in temporary camps on its islands.

But Greece made it clear that its readiness to provide shelter for more refugees was strictly conditional on the EU financial aid, and the understanding that those offered shelter would later be relocated.

The vice president of the European Commission reassured Greece of the EU’s willingness to provide more cash.

“What we did manage to extract (from EU partners) was that this would be financed by the European Union—something that was not the case until now. (The new camps’) creation will depend on financing,” Migration Minister Ioannis Mouzalas told Skai radio.