EU Leaders Criticize Each Other at Summit on Refugees

The flow of Syrians, Afghans and others through the Balkans toward Western Europe continued unabated Sunday as European leaders were gathering in Brussels to try and work out a plan to deal with the massive influx of asylum-seekers.

(Back L-R) EU Commission vice president Frans Timmermans, EU commissioner for neighbourhood policy Johannes Hahn, (L-R) Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar, EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Council president Donald Tusk during the EU-Balkans mini summit at the EU headquarters in Brussels. JOHN THYS/AFP/Getty Images

BRUSSELS—European leaders lashed out Sunday at each other’s handling of the continent’s greatest immigration crisis since World War II, even as they came together to seek ways to ease the plight of the tens of thousands marching across the Balkans toward the European Union’s heartland.

At a hastily called emergency summit in Brussels, 11 EU and Balkan leaders were especially looking to shore up Greece’s porous border with Turkey and slow the flow of people heading north toward the European Union’s heartland.

“Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

Nearly 250,000 migrants have passed through the Balkans since mid-September and the surge is not being deterred by either cold weather or colder waters off Greece. Croatia said 11,500 people crossed into the country Saturday, the highest in a single day since Hungary put up a fence and refugees started coming into Croatia in mid-September.

 Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar said his tiny Alpine nation was being overwhelmed by the refugees—with 60,000 arriving in the last 10 days—and was not receiving enough help from its EU partners.