The United Nations warns that a daily flow of about 8,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees to Europe is likely to continue.
The figure came from UN regional coordinator for refugees Amin Awad, who spoke to Reuters news agency.
More than 5,000 refugees are arriving daily in Greece.
That flow could continue during the winter if the weather remains good and the borders open, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said.
About half a million migrants – mostly from Syria and other conflict zones in the Middle East and Africa – have arrived in Europe this year.
The refugee influx has caused tensions between EU neighbors in Central Europe, which continued on September 25 despite a visit to Austria by Hungary’s PM Viktor Orban.
Viktor Orban and Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann did not appear together in public after their talks.
Werner Faymann had earlier likened Hungary’s tough handling of migrants to the policies of Nazi Germany – a comparison angrily dismissed by Hungary.
Speaking in Vienna, Viktor Orban said Hungary had to build a fence on its border with Croatia like the razor-wire fence completed on its border with Serbia.
What happens on the Croatia-Hungary border will be “decisive in the next few days” for the refugee crisis, he said. Hungary has nearly completed the fence on that border.
Hungary’s traditionally good relations with Austria must be maintained, Viktor Orban said, urging Vienna to show “clear support” for protection of the EU’s external borders.
Croatia – the EU’s newest member state – has struggled with an influx of migrants from Serbia, since they were blocked at the Hungarian border. Croatia-Serbia tensions escalated into a war of words.
On September 25, Croatia’s PM Zoran Milanovic said he was working to lift the country’s border restrictions “today or tomorrow”.
Vehicles have been blocked and Serbia – a candidate to join the EU – angrily compared the restrictions with “those of the World War Two fascist regime”.
Scars remain from the Serb-Croat fighting of the 1990s, when Yugoslavia disintegrated in inter-ethnic conflict.
The EU’s Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy, Johannes Hahn, visited a refugee camp in the border zone on September 25 with Serbia’s PM Aleksandar Vucic.
Deep divisions surfaced in the EU this week when ministers agreed to relocate about 120,000 refugees across Europe.
The refugees – from Syria, Iraq and Eritrea – will be transferred from Greece and Italy, to ease the pressure on overcrowded reception centers there.
However, there is still a dispute about the distribution plan. Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia voted against it. They resent the imposition of quotas, arguing that they are ill-equipped to integrate non-EU rrefugees.
Many of the refugees are determined to reach Germany, whose Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged EU partners to take in more refugees. Germany expects to have at least 800,000 asylum seekers in 2015.
Germany’s federal government has pledged €4 billion ($4.5 billion) to its regional states, double the current levels of funding, to help them cope with a record refugee influx.
EU ministers are meeting in Brussels to try to resolve a dispute over how to relocate 120,000 refugees who have recently arrived in Europe.
Some central European states have resisted calls for EU members to accept mandatory quotas.
Whatever is decided, the UN says the EU’s plans will not be enough.
The refugees are part of 500,000 to have arrived by sea this year so far. Germany says it expects at least 800,000 this year.
The arrival of hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers has created deep EU divisions.
Home affairs ministers meeting in Brussels on September 22 are hoping to reach agreement which would be ratified by EU leaders on September 23.
Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland all oppose the idea of obligatory quotas, promoted by Germany which has accepted large numbers of migrants.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said two weeks ago that mandatory quotas were “a first step” towards a more permanent scheme to deal with the influx.
However, mandatory quotas have now been dropped, diplomats say, and a voluntary relocation scheme is now on the table.
Most of those arriving in the EU are from war-torn Syria, the European Commission says.
The relocation scheme would prioritize refugees recognized as “in need of international protection” – those from Syria, Eritrea and Iraq, according to EU data.
The 120,000 would be transferred from Hungary, Greece and Italy – the states where most migrants have been entering the EU.
The UK, under an opt-out, would not be part of the relocation scheme but has already agreed to take 20,000 refugees directly from countries bordering Syria over the next five years.
The Irish Republic and Denmark, with similar opt-outs, have agreed to take part in the EU scheme.
The UN Refugee Agency has warned that the relocation scheme will be insufficient given the large numbers arriving in Europe.
“A relocation program alone, at this stage in the crisis, will not be enough to stabilize the situation,” spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said.
The number of those needing to be relocated will probably need to be revised upwards significantly, she said.
Newcomers continued arriving in southern Europe on September 22 in the hope of making their way north to Germany and Scandinavia.
Hundreds are crossing the Hungarian border into Austria – and about 4,000 are reaching the Greek island of Lesbos every day.
Croatia has decided to close seven of its eight road border crossings with Serbia following a huge influx of refugees.
Croatian officials said they had no choice after more than 13,000 people entered the country since Hungary fenced off its border with Serbia earlier this week.
Many refugees have been taken by bus to reception centers but some say they plan to walk to neighboring Slovenia.
Huge numbers of people heading north from the Mediterranean have created a political crisis in the EU.
Croatian officials said roads leading to the border crossings had also been shut.
Photo AFP/Getty Images
The crossing on the main road linking Belgrade and Zagreb – at Bajakovo – appeared to be the only one left open.
On September 17, Croatian Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic said his country was “absolutely full”.
Ranko Ostojic said his message to the refugees was: “Don’t come here anymore. Stay in refugee centers in Serbia and Macedonia and Greece. This is not the road to Europe. Buses can’t take you there. It’s a lie.”
However, a Reuters journalist at the scene reported that refugees were walking through fields to bypass one of the border crossings.
Scuffles broke out in two locations on the border with Serbia on September 17 after people were left waiting for hours for transport further north.
Crowds briefly broke through police lines at Tovarnik and Batina – two of the crossings now closed.
Buses arrived just before midnight but not enough to transport everyone. Drivers said people were being taken to a reception centre.
Many refugees appear to have slipped away to continue their journey north on foot.
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