August 21, 2015 Issue

Gevgelija, Macedonia—A migrant rests on a station platform on the Macedonian-Greek border on August 6. Unwelcome in Greece, many migrants, mostly Syrians escaping their country’s civil war, are trying to cross Macedonia and Serbia to enter the European Union via Hungary. Once there, they hope to seek asylum in Sweden or Germany; the latter has accepted more migrants and refugees this past year than any other European country. Citing the economic crisis in his country, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras asked the EU to step in to help handle the tens of thousands of refugees coming into Greece from Syria, Afghanistan and other war zones. In July alone, 50,000 people made it to Greece, many of them in rickety boats barely fit to go to sea.