March 1 (SeeNews) - Macedonia could close completely its border to migrants once Austria reaches its annual quota of 37,000 refugees, and this could happen any moment, Macedonian president Gjorge Ivanov said in an interview for German magazine Der Spiegel.
Ivanov explained that the decisions how many asylum seekers, and from which countries of origin, to let in is taken in accordance with the decisions of other countries along the migrants' route.
"Whenever a country to the north closes its borders, we do the same," he said.
Presently, only migrants from Syria and Iraq are allowed to enter Macedonia.
"The country will not become a refugee camp again," the president said, refering to the refugee crisis in Macedonia after the Kosovo and Bosnia wars.
"We are able to admit only 2,000 persons at once, only people transiting the country and for a short time," he added, reiterating the country's position which was announced at a meeting in October. "We cannot provide shelter for them."
"We need political decisions to be taken now," Macedonia's head of state warned. "Soon it will be too late."
Earlier this month, the police chiefs of Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria agreed to restrict the flow of migrants through their countries to no more than 580 per day. The decision has left thousands stuck in Greece.
On Monday, tensions at Idomeni, on the Macedonia-Greece border, escalated as a group of refugees broke through the border fence in an attempt to enter Macedonia, prompting the police to fire tear gas at them.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 111,000 refugees have arrived in Greece by sea, according to data of the International Organization for Migration. A large part of them have headed north to Germany and other countries in Western Europe via the Western Balkans.