EU minister pushed toward next crisis summit as borders close to refugees

As Europe’s refugee crisis spirals, Germany and Austria pushed fellow EU members toward another round of emergency talks aimed at forging a unified response, just days after the 28-nation bloc failed to agree on a quota system to resettle hundreds of thousands of people fleeing conflict.

Austria’s chancellor was in Germany to discuss the ongoing border situation Tuesday, as news emerged that 22 more refugees died while making their way by boat toward Europe, and as several nations stepped up efforts to seal their own borders against refugee crossings — part of a growing trend that some fear threatens the European Union’s longstanding Schengen system of open borders.

"Time is running out," for Europe to come up with an effective, unified response, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday — while insisting “we can manage this.”

At Merkel’s side, Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said that “no one who is in search of protection should lose their lives,” and warned of a “humanitarian crisis” if there is not quick and decisive action. After their remarks, European Union officials announced that the bloc’s interior ministers would meet on Sept. 22 to discuss next steps. The EU had held an emergency meeting in Brussels on Monday, but interior and justice ministers failed to reach agreement over a plan to resettle 120,000 refugees across the bloc.

Individual EU countries’ vastly divergent responses to the refugee crisis have shown how difficult it will be to shepherd through a unified EU-wide policy. Even countries that have taken in relatively large numbers of refugees, like Germany, have begun to tighten their borders.

After more than 60,000 refugees entered in September alone, Germany re-imposed border controls Sunday. This was followed by similar announcements in Slovakia and Austria.

With Poland and the Netherlands also considering similar measures, there are fears the Schengen system could collapse entirely, even though its rules do allow states to impose temporary controls for security reasons.

Germany's new border checks have caused massive traffic jams on the frontier with Austria. Since the rules were imposed Sunday, the pace of new arrivals has slowed, with some 2,000 refugees crossing after that, police said.

Meanwhile, as Germany and other countries in Europe’s wealthier north and west have urged the EU to adopt quotas for refugees, many countries in the political bloc’s east have bristled at the idea.

No country has resisted more than Hungary, which stepped up its aggressive efforts to stem the tide of refugees on Tuesday by declaring a state of emergency, effectively sealing its border with Serbia — through which many refugees have come.

Hungary also announced on Tuesday efforts to begin building a razor-wire fence on its border with Romania, after completing a similar project on the Serbian border.

Under its new rules, Hungary said it had determined Serbia was "safe” for refugees and therefore it could automatically deny asylum claims at the border.

“We will start a new era," Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said shortly after midnight on the border. "We will stop the inflow of illegal migrants over our green borders.”

Hungary’s actions led Serbia to publicly despair that it would not be able to handle the increased strain on refugees on its side of the border. Until now the refugees have used Serbia primarily as a transit point to head farther west to the EU.

“The idea of returning all migrants to Serbia, with others flowing in from Greece and Macedonia, is unacceptable, because we would then become the center of arrivals,” said Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic. "We would like to be part of the solution to the problem, but this can't be to our detriment … Serbia cannot handle this.”

Meanwhile, the lack of resolution to the crisis continues to take its toll on people trying to make their way toward safer confines.

“Why are they doing this?” asked an Afghan woman on the Serbia side of the border, holding her child.

"If we could work and live in safety we wouldn't be here," said another Afghan, waiting in vain to cross into Hungary. "How are we supposed to live with no future? If I die I want it to be for something, for something good, for my rights."

Over half a million refugees — almost double the total for all of last year — have arrived on Europe’s doorstep as of Aug. 31, seeking refuge from conflicts across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, particularly from strife-torn Syria.