DHAKA: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has blamed European nations for ‘unilaterally’ shutting the Balkan route for migrants.

She said this had put Greece in a ‘very difficult situation’ and such decisions should be taken by the whole of the EU, reports the BBC.

Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, and non-EU members Serbia and Macedonia have all acted to stem the migrant flow.

The EU and Turkey, from where migrants reach Greece, have set out a plan to ease the crisis.

Under the proposals, hammered out at a summit in Brussels on Monday but still to be finalized, all migrants arriving in Greece from Turkey would be sent back. For each Syrian returned, a Syrian in Turkey would be resettled in the EU.

European Council President Donald Tusk has said the plan would spell the end of ‘irregular migration to Europe’.

It is the worst such crisis in Europe since World War Two.

Serbia and Croatia quickly announced similar border restrictions. Then on Wednesday, Macedonia, which had slowed the number of migrants crossing its border with Greece to a trickle, shut it completely.

Some 14,000 migrants are now left stranded in a sprawling tent camp at the Idomeni crossing.

A draft statement from the Brussels summit had declared the Balkan route ‘closed’. But Germany objected to the wording and it was changed.

Merkel said at the time that declaring the closure was wrong.

BDST: 1945 HRS, MAR 10, 2016
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