Balkan corridor migrant flows spark concern
The specter of a migrant border rush like the one seven years ago in the village of Idomeni is beginning to loom on Greece’s northern border.
At present, there is no sign that the region will experience the “days of 2015,” when tens of thousands of refugees and irregular migrants were sheltering in the border village of Kilkis, waiting for the right moment to cross into North Macedonia and from there continue on to the heart of Europe. However, alarming signals are coming from along the so-called “Balkan corridor,” of which Idomeni is an important hub.
Refugees and migrants who manage to cross the Greek-Turkish border illegally – and there are many of them – are gathering at Idomeni, where they set up camps, stay in local hotels or sleep rough in the woods until they see an opportunity to sneak into North Macedonia and move inland.
“Increased flows of illegal migrants have been observed recently, as well as an increased concentration in the area of Idomeni, Evzones and other settlements. It is estimated that their number exceeds a thousand, which is more than the aged population of the villages in question,” says the mayor of Paionia, Kostas Sionidis.
But it is not only the residents of Idomeni and the surrounding villages who are alarmed. In a meeting recently in Vienna, the leaders of Austria, Hungary and Serbia agreed to take new measures to limit flows via the Western Balkans.
With Evros and Vienna seen as the two gates of this Balkan route to the heart of the continent, Europe is strengthening its defenses at major passes such as Idomeni, and the borders between Serbia and Hungary, and Bulgaria and North Macedonia. Already in 2022, the Greek police have arrested more than 1,100 migrant smugglers.
