The main migrant trail from Greece to northern Europe was blocked
Wednesday after western Balkan nations slammed shut their borders,
hiking pressure for an EU-Turkey deal and exacerbating a dire situation
on the Macedonian border.Slovenia and Croatia, two of the countries along the route used by hundreds of thousands of people in recent months, barred entry to transiting migrants from midnight.
Serbia indicated it would follow suit.
EU member Slovenia said that the only exceptions were for people wishing to claim asylum in the country or for migrants "on humanitarian grounds and in accordance with the rules of the Schengen zone".
Prime Minister Miro Cerar said the move meant that "the [Balkan] route for illegal migrations no longer exists." Croatia's Interior Minister Vlaho Orepic called it a "new phase in resolving the migrant crisis".
The measures follow Austria's decision in February to cap the number of migrants passing through its territory, which has led to a gradual tightening of borders through the western Balkans.
"This is putting into effect what is correct, and that is the end of the 'waving through' [of migrants] which attracted so many migrants last year and was the wrong approach," Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said.
Even before the border closures, the tightening of restrictions through the Balkans had created a bottleneck in Greece, the main entry point for migrants into the EU across the sea from Turkey.
The Greek government says there are nearly 36 000 migrants and refugees stranded in the country, but police in the north said there were another 4 000 people unaccounted for.
This includes more than 14 000 mainly Syrian and Iraqi refugees camped out by the northern Idomeni border crossing with Macedonia - many of them for weeks - at a muddy, unhygienic camp operated by beleaguered aid groups.
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