Balkans cautious over EU plans to ease migrant crisis

Countries in southeastern Europe that are facing an unprecedented influx of migrants reacted cautiously Monday to new EU plans to help stem the crisis, following an emergency mini-summit at the weekend.

 The European Union pledged to help set up 100,000 places in reception centres along the migrant route through the Balkans, in a bid to defuse rising tensions on its eastern frontier as tens of thousands pass through on their way to northern Europe.

 A 17-point plan, announced after emergency talks between the heads of 10 EU nations and non-EU Albania, Serbia and Macedonia, included an undertaking that no country will let migrants through to an adjoining state without prior agreement.

 Another key element of the plan is to speed up information exchanges between countries to coordinate their efforts.

 The small Alpine nation of Slovenia, which has been swamped by migrants in recent weeks, reacted with caution.

 "It is crucial that commitments are fulfilled in practice. If that does not happen from (Monday) on, the situation will not improve significantly," Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar told reporters after the meeting.

 Government spokesman Bojan Sefic struck a more upbeat note, describing the outcome as "a lot of progress" with the promise of "more cooperation".

 More than 670,000 people have reached European soil this year -- many of them fleeing violence in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan -- in the continent's worst migration crisis since World War II.

 Some 3,000 have died making the dangerous Mediterranean sea crossing and, with winter fast approaching, the fear is that more could face the same fate on the land route through the Balkans.

 Underscoring the dangers, Greek police said the bodies of two young migrants had washed up on the islands of Lesbos and Chios on Monday.

 At Berkasovo on the Serbian-Croatian border, an eyewitness reportedly saw hundreds of migrants battling rain and cold winds plodding along in a long column.

 Marward Hamid, travelling with his wife and six children -- including a three-month old baby -- said: "It is so difficult to travel with such a big family. But if we had stayed in Syria, we would probably have been dead."

 "I have to think of my children's future, not my own," said the 46-year-old.