欧盟主管移民的专员阿夫拉莫普洛斯恳请巴尔干国家向1万3千多名被困在希腊和马其顿边境的难民开放边境，并表示应给予逃离中东暴力的寻求庇护者应有的尊重。
阿夫拉莫普洛斯在走访希腊的伊多梅尼难民营数小时前，有1000多名难民渡过西边5公里外一条湍急的水流非法进入马其顿，还有500人也试图跟着闯过边界。
马其顿内务部表示，已经在难民星期一越境的地方采取行动，提高边境安全。
伊多梅尼的难民们为了给他们病情加重的孩子们找到足够的食物和药品而处境越来越危急。许多人仍希望马其顿能重开2月21日关闭的边境，而其他巴尔干国家也会效仿马其顿，从而使这些难民成为欧盟和土耳其间一项临时协议生效之前最后一批北上的难民。根据这一临时协议，那些跨过爱琴海到达土耳其的难民将被遣送回去。
这一协议的细节将在3月17号最后确定。协议引起了联合国难民署专员和人权组织的愤怒。联合国难民署警告说，任何将难民一律遣返的做法都可能会违反国际法，并警告说，计划穿越爱琴海的叙利亚和伊拉克难民并没有减少的迹象。
The European Union migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulus is pleading with Balkan countries to open their borders to more than 13,000 refugees trapped for weeks on the Greece-Macedonia border, saying asylum-seekers fleeing violence in the Middle East deserve respect.
Hours before his visit to the overwhelmed camp at Idomeni, Greece, more than 1,000 refugees forded a fast-moving stream five kilometers west to cross into Macedonia illegally, with another 500 following also trying to breach the border.
Macedonia’s Interior Ministry says steps are already in hand to improve security where the refugees crossed Monday.
The refugees at Idomeni are becoming more desperate as they struggle to secure sufficient food and medicine for their increasingly ill children. Many still cling to the hope the Macedonians will open the border, which was closed February 21, and other Balkans countries will follow, allowing them to be among the last to travel north before a provisional deal between the European Union and Turkey comes into effect that would return refugees who have crossed the Aegean Sea to Turkey.
Details of the deal, which has provoked the anger of U.N. refugee chiefs and rights groups, are to be finalized March 17. The U.N. refugee agency has warned any blanket return may violate international law and warns there is little sign of any let up in Syrian and Iraqi refugees planning to cross the Aegean.