 |
| Luxembourgish President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker |
Migrants crossing the Balkans will begin freezing to death as winter approaches, the head of European Union has said, as leaders warned the continent was "falling apart" trying to deal with the biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War.
As leaders of eastern European countries turned on each other at a foul-tempered emergency summit in Brussels, they said the Schengen visa-free zone and even the European Union itself could be pulled apart as states threw up borders to halt the influx.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, said a solution was urgently needed or thousands of refugee families facing winter temperature on the hillsides and freezing river-banks of Eastern Europe, would die.
"Every day counts," he said. "Otherwise we will soon see families in cold rivers in the Balkans perish miserably." Miro Cerar, the Slovenian prime minister, said the EU was days from collapse as his country buckled under an “unbearable” influx of migrants.
"If we do not deliver some immediate and concrete actions on the ground in the next few days and weeks I believe the EU and Europe as a whole will start falling apart," he said.
Werner Faymann, the Austrian chancellor, said Sunday's meeting would "either consolidate the unity of Europe or watch the slow decomposition of the EU." » | Matthew Holehouse, in Brussels and Melanie Hall in Berlin | Sunday, October 25, 2015
