Ai Weiwei
– Artist’s Website –
Abandoned by migrants on the shores of Greece is left outside German concert hall by artist to commemorate those who drowned
A giant pile of lifejackets abandoned by refugees and migrants making the hazardous journey into Europe has been left outside a German concert hall.
They form part of a temporary memorial project by Chinese artist and free-speech advocate Ai Weiwei to commemorate the refugees who drowned on their way to Europe
it comes as plans are being put in motion to block the borders into Eastern Europe, effectively trapping incoming asylum-seekers in Greece.
Eastern European leaders – in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic – are set to offer manpower and other aid to help Macedonia seal its Greek border.
The leaders of the Visegrad Group could announce the move when they meet with their Macedonian counterpart at a summit in Prague on Monday, diplomats said.
The EU told Athens today that its failure to control the hundreds of thousands of refugees who have arrived in the past year will result in a long-term suspension of some passport-free travel in Europe.
EU officials added that they expect more border tightening by Greece’s Balkan neighbours.
‘Some form of heavy control is in the making,’ one official told Reuters.
Visegrad states have led the criticism of efforts – notably by Germany – to absorb asylum-seekers who have reached Europe via Macedonia and Serbia.
Outspoken, right-wing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban urged Macedonia and Bulgaria last month to follow his example and close their borders to refugees and migrants.
The leader’s action was condemned by many European leaders and human rights groups.
But the idea of stopping people entering impoverished Macedonia and instead holding them in EU-member Greece until they can be offered asylum elsewhere, or deported, has gained momentum with policy-makers.
Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz told Macedonians on Friday that they should be ready to ‘completely stop’ the entry of migrants and refugees in the next few months, because he expected Vienna to do the same once it reached a self-declared limit on the number of migrants it will accept through its eastern borders.
The EU has offered aid and cooperation to states in the Balkan peninsula, over concern that a ‘domino effect’ of border closures in the east will leave vast numbers of Syrians, Iraqis and others stranded in some of Europe’s poorest countries.
The EU border agency Frontex is working with Greek forces on the southern side of the Macedonian border, but is prevented by its legal mandate from doing so in Macedonia itself.
Another EU diplomat expressed hope that elements of the EU’s so far largely ineffective efforts to curb the influx may soon start falling into place.
This includes the new idea to engage the Visegrad states in common efforts by helping Macedonia.
‘If this gets them back on board with European efforts on migration, that would be important politically,’ they said.
Some Visegrad states already have small security force presences on the Macedonian side. They may also look at helping Greece’s other northern neighbours, Bulgaria and non-EU Albania.
EU officials said delaying people in Greece could help kick-start an EU scheme to relocate asylum-seekers from Greece to other EU states.
The second diplomat said: ‘Greece would be the place where things would really happen. We would need to help to build more reception facilities, more infrastructure. And we would do that.’
Numbers of people arriving on the Greek borders are expected to rise again once better weather arrives with the spring.
The EU hopes to have plans in place to help receive the numbers by the time this happens.