Cultural globalization

Austria will seek an exemption from having to accept more asylum-seekers under an EU relocation system, it said on Tuesday, arguing that it has already taken in its fair share during Europe's migration crisis.

Croatian activists and representatives of the Baptist Church are holding a round-table discussion in Zagreb on Wednesday to highlight how the deportation of asylum-seekers and refugees to their home countries could end in serious persecution.

The European Union's top migration official on Monday urged member-states to meet their refugee relocation pledges by September and help alleviate the pressure on countries such as Greece and Italy which have borne the brunt of arrivals across the Mediterranean.

Migration Minister Yiannis Mouzalas raised the alarm this weekend that Greece has reached saturation point in terms of refugee numbers.

In an interview with Germany's Spiegel magazine, Mouzalas said it would be a mistake on the part of the country's European partners to burden Greece further by implementing the Dublin agreement.

A sudden inflow of migrants is not expected in Serbia, while those who are already in the country are increasingly considering seeking asylum.

Tanjug reported this, citing the Asylum Protection Center NGO.

Thousands of asylum applications remain pending even though the influx of undocumented migrants into Greece from neighboring Turkey has plummeted over the past year.

A total of 2,627 migrants landed on the islands of the eastern Aegean from Turkey between January 1 and March 5 this year, according to government data. In the same period last year, that number was 121,426.

The Bulgarian Ministry of Interior has reported, quoted by BNR that in the period March 9 - 16th, 46 migrants were detained while trying to enter Bulgaria from Turkey, which shows a minimal increase in migration pressure.

46 migrants have been detained in an attempt to enter the country from Turkey in the period March 9 - 16, 2017, showed data of the Interior Ministry, reported BGNES.

The data shows a minimal increase in the migrant pressure from Turkey last week. By comparison, the week before, the number of migrants detained at entry was 34 and the week before that - 21.

CoE Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muiznieks says he was "deeply concerned to learn that the Hungarian parliament approved a bill on border management."

In a statement on Wednesday, Muiznieks said the legislation was "likely to exacerbate the already highly problematic situation of asylum seekers in Hungary."

The Hungarian parliament on Tuesday approved the automatic detention of all asylum-seekers.

All asylum seekers entering Hungary and those currently there will be detained or moved to container camps at Hungary's southern borders, AFP reported.