Macedonia extends state of emergency at borders to reduce migrants’ flows

Macedonia has extended the state of emergency at its southern and northern borders until June 2019 to reduce illegal border crossings by migrants. Parliament approved the measure for the borders with Greece and Serbia because of increased migratory flows, AP reported. Balkan states closed their borders in early 2016 to migrants heading from Greece to Europe’s heartland. However, Macedonia recorded more than 6,600 illegal crossings of the country’s borders in the first half of 2018. Police teams from several EU nations are helping their Macedonian peers to patrol the borders. Macedonia first declared a state of emergency at its border areas in August 2015 after tens of thousands of migrants illegally entered the country.