DHAKA: European Union and Balkan leaders are holding emergency talks on Europe’s refugee crisis amid threats from three frontline states to close their borders if northern EU countries stop accepting refugees.

The summit on Sunday, called by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, groups the heads of 10 EU nations, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in addition to the leaders of Albania, Serbia and Macedonia.

The meeting came after Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia on Saturday warned they would not allow themselves to become a ‘buffer zone’ for the tens of thousands of arrivals streaming into Europe.

‘All three countries... are ready if Germany and Austria and other countries close their borders (...), we will be ready to also close our borders at that very same moment,’ Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said after talks between the three Balkan leaders in Sofia, reports Al Jazeera.

Over the past months, non-EU member Serbia has seen a massive influx of refugees on their way from Greece and Macedonia to northern Europe, though Bulgaria and Romania have been much less affected.

Juncker’s office said Sunday’s small summit was needed to foster greater cooperation ‘in view of the unfolding emergency’.

In an interview published on Sunday by the German newspaper Bild, Juncker urged countries to stop handing over refugees to neighboring states in chaotic conditions.

States ‘must take care to uphold orderly procedures and conditions’, he said.

BDST: 2102 HRS, OCT 25, 2015
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