Romania tightens border controls adding to Balkan misery for refugees

(Vatican Radio) Romanian border police have tightened up controls in response to what it calls “possible threats”, leading to long lines of waiting vehicles at the country's borders. Its decision came after several other Balkan countries closed their borders to economic migrants leading to new bottle necks in the region as thousands of refugees became trapped at different frontiers, prompting concern in neighbouring Hungary.

Listen to Stefan Bos' report:

Romanian police said border controls had been temporarily increased" to prevent people from conflict zones who could carry out activities that are a real threat to internal and foreign security." It did not elaborate on the possible threats.

However Eastern European and Balkan nations have been on high alert after reports that at least one suicide bomber involved in last week’s attacks in Paris used the Balkan route to reach his destination.

The increased controls began late Thursday and Romanian media reported that it was taking drivers more than three hours to cross the border crossing at Nadlac into Hungary with lines stretching for up to seven kilometers.

ROMANIA NEXT ROUTE?

Romania has not yet been on the path that hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers have been taking through the Balkans to get to Western Europe. But Hungary fears that may change and has already threatened to build a razor wire fence along its border with Romania. It already built similar fences along the borders with Croatia and Serbia diverting the migrant flow.     

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán urged the European Union to change its migration policies. He told reporters that uncontrolled migration poses a "direct risk" to all European citizens and has already claimed lives in the continent.

Orbán also believes that it is "politically irresponsible" to continue allowing migrants to enter the EU unchecked, since they "may or do commit acts of terror."

MACEDONIA’S PRIME MINISTER

Orbán spoke after talks in Budapest with Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski of Macedonia who said the flow of some 10,000 migrants a day had become a "constant burden" on Macedonian resources.

Gruevski called for greater cooperation between the Balkan states and the EU to solve the crisis.

Macedonia, along with Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia, has begun turning away migrants who are not from war zones such as Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.

That move has already led to riots, especially at the Macedonian-Greek border.