Greece announced Thursday that it has recalled its ambassador to Vienna for "consultations" after Austria reportedly hosted a meeting with Balkan states about the ongoing migrant crisis but excluded it from the gathering.
Calling the move an "unfriendly act," Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias recalled the ambassador in order to "safeguard the friendly relations between the states and the people of Greece and Austria," the ministry said in a statement, according to BBC News.
Ministers from EU Balkan nations are meeting in Brussels to discuss the migrant issue, but 10 Balkan states meeting in Austria on Wednesday determined, without input from Greece, that they would coordinate action to limit the flow of migrants along their countries.
The actions have the potential to place Greece in a difficult situation due to it being a main point of entry for hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the Middle East due its maritime border with Turkey and the close proximity of its islands to the Turkish coast, reported the Associated Press. By triggering a domino effect of national border controls limiting the flow of people northwards, the refugees become stranded there, placing burden on Greece alone.
Greece condemned the actions taken by Austria and other Balkan states, saying they could "undermine the foundations and the process of European unification."
"Unilateral initiatives to solve the refugee (crisis) and violations of international and European laws by EU member states is a practice which would undermine the very foundations of European unification," the Greek ministry said, according to Reuters.
"Responsibility for dealing with the migration and refugee crisis cannot burden one country."
