AFP, Vienna :
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, stung by several setbacks at the ballot box over her refugees policy, was due in Vienna Saturday for potentially tense talks with the leaders of countries along the Balkan migrant route.
They include Prime Minister Victor Orban of Hungary who has been sharply critical of Merkel’s “open-door” policy, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece, a country now home to 60,000 stranded migrants, and Boyko Borisov, premier of newly under-pressure Bulgaria.
Orban called on Thursday for all illegal migrants to be deported from the European Union to “large refugee camps” on an island or in North Africa where their asylum claims could be processed.
EU President Donald Tusk and Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos were also expected, along with representatives from hosts Austria, Croatia, Romania and Slovenia, plus non-EU Serbia, Macedonia and Albania.
Last year hundreds of thousands of people, many fleeing the Syrian war, trekked up from Greece though the western Balkans northwards, particularly into Austria, Germany and Scandinavia.
In March though, under pressure from Austria, Balkan countries closed their borders, and the flow has since slowed dramatically, although 100-150 still make it to Austria every day, Vienna says.
The same month the EU struck a deal with Turkey-home to more than three million refugees-under which Ankara halted the influx in return for billions in aid and other sweeteners.
The pact may yet collapse, however, in the wake of the July 15 coup attempt in Turkey.
