European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he wanted to get a group of EU leaders to agree on short-term measures to tackle the refugee / migrant crisis in the western Balkans at a summit held today.

Concern is growing about hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants arriving in Europe, many camping in western Balkan countries in ever colder conditions as winter approaches. Juncker has summoned EU leaders from the region and Chancellor Angela Merkel from Germany, which is taking in more refugees than any other EU state, for talks today. Merkel, a driving force behind today's meeting, will argue for distributing migrants within the EU directly from initial registration centres, according to Der Spiegel weekly.