THE flow of Syrians, Afghans and others through the Balkans toward western Europe continued unabated as European leaders gather in Brussels to try to work out a plan to deal with the massive influx of asylum seekers. At the Brezice camp in Slovenia near the border with Croatia, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency urged leaders to come up with a system to register and screen newcomers when they first enter Europe, rather than piecemeal along the way.
The leaders of EU members Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania and Slovenia have been invited to the Brussels summit along with two non-members, Macedonia and Serbia.
A draft plan that they were to discuss has already drawn criticism for its proposal that countries stop allowing asylum seekers to pass across their borders without consulting with their neighbours. Croatian prime minister Zoran Milanovic said that such consultation "is impossible".
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