German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has heard a unanimous and emphatic "no" from his counterparts from four Central European nations to his call for introducing mandatory quotas for accepting migrants.
Steinmeier said 40,000 migrants are expected to arrive in Germany over the coming weekend and 800,000 this year.
But the foreign ministers of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia rejected the European Union's latest plan to relocate 160,000 migrants across the 28-nation bloc.
Steinmeier left their joint news conference in Prague prematurely on Friday, allegedly due to his busy schedule.
***
The foreign ministers of four Central European countries have rejected a European Union plan for introducing mandatory quotas for accepting migrants in their meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek, who hosted Friday's meeting, told reporters: "We need to have control over how many we are capable of accepting."
Steinmeier argued that the migrant crisis is "possibly the biggest challenge for the European Union in its history. And it's impossible for one country to deal with such a challenge."
Germany, which accepts the most migrants of any EU nation, is pressing for the quotas.
But Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak said: "We have a different view," and Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said the top goal should be to gain control over the EU's external borders.
***
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has ordered his country's border with Serbia to be turned into a razor-tipped fortress, says the solution to the European Union migration crisis lies in Greece.
"We have to take care of the problem where it exists," Orban told a Budapest news conference. "If Greece is not capable of protecting its borders . we need to mobilize European forces to the Greek borders so that they can achieve the goals of European law instead of the Greek authorities. That is one of the foremost goals."
Under EU asylum rules, those seeking refugee protection should apply in the first EU country they enter. Greece is the first EU country on the migration route that starts in Turkey and runs through the Balkans and Hungary. Thousands daily take short journeys by boat from the Turkish coast to Greece's eastern Aegean islands.
But other EU nations in recent years have stopped deporting people back to Greece, citing its overwhelmed, dysfunctional asylum system. Germany recently decided to stop deporting people back to Hungary for similar reasons.
***
The U.N. refugee agency says it's deploying hundreds of prefabricated homes to central and southeastern Europe to temporarily house some of the Syrian refugees who are flooding into the continent.
Spokesman William Spindler says UNHCR is stepping up its operations in Europe amid what it estimates is an influx of over 380,000 people across the Mediterranean so far this year. The International Organization for Migration has put the figure at more than 432,000.
Spindler said Friday that "trucks are on the way" after the Geneva-based agency won government approval to send 300 prefabricated homes to provide overnight, temporary housing to refugees awaiting registration by authorities.
He said UNHCR is also sending enough supplies and blankets for 95,000 people in four countries among the most affected:Hungary, Serbia, Macedonia and Greece.
***
European Council President Donald Tusk says he is more hopeful now that the European Union can deal with the refugee crisis after contacts with EU member states in recent days.
Speaking during a visit to Cyrpus Friday, Tusk said an upcoming emergency meeting of EU home affairs and justice ministers on Monday needs to produce "a concrete positive sign of solidarity and unity."
If no deal is found, he said he would have to call an emergency EU Council meeting in September to tackle the crisis.
***
Denmark says it won't accept any of the 160,000 refugees that the European Union wants to relocate to other countries from Italy, Greece and Hungary.
Like Britain and Ireland, Denmark is not legally bound to take part in EU plans to spread refugees more evenly across the bloc and Integration Minister Inger Stoejberg on Friday made clear that Denmark has no intention of joining voluntarily.
Stoejberg told reporters that "we won't be part of the distribution of the 160,000 asylum-seekers" and that Denmark already is receiving a large number of asylum-seekers.
Almost 15,000 people applied for asylum in Denmark last year. Neighboring Sweden, whose population is nearly twice as large, took in more than 80,000.
***
A Hungarian camerawoman caught on video kicking and tripping migrants near the Serbian border has offered a qualified apology for her behavior.
Petra Laszlo says in the letter published in the daily Magyar Nemzet newspaper that she was "sincerely sorry for what happened," but addedL "I was scared as they streamed toward me, and then something snapped inside me."
The 40-year-old was fired by the right-wing N1TV online channel after footage of her kicking and tripping migrants Tuesday near the village of Roszke went viral on social media.
Police questioned Laszlo on suspicion of disorderly conduct Thursday, released her without charge, and say the investigation is continuing.
***
Austrian police have shut down sections of the roadway between Vienna and the Hungarian border as asylum-seekers have formed a long line and are walking toward the capital.
Police spokesman Gerhard Koller says the people — estimated by reporters to number more than 1,000 — pushed through police cordons to being their 60-kilometer (40-mile) trek early Friday.
It was unclear what prompted the development. Trains have been taking migrants and refugees from the Nickelsdorf border point to Vienna for days, and Koller said more trains were planned.
Thousands of people — most of them migrants who have traveled the West Balkans route from Greece — have been arriving at Vienna train stations daily. Most have traveled on to Germany and other West European EU nations.