Over the weekend, thousands of refugees lined up at the Greek-Macedonian border. After clashing with Macedonian police, they were allowed to use Macedonia as a transit route to Serbia, from where they traveled further to the European Union.

PRAGUE (Sputnik) — The external borders of the Schengen Area should be closed amid the migrant crisis in the European Union, Czech Finance Minister and Vice Prime Minister Andrej Babis said Tuesday.

“External borders of the Schengen zone should be immediately closed and protected against the influx of migrants,” Babis told journalists.

Babis also added that Macedonia and Bulgaria needed the help of NATO structures because of their inability to deal with migrants on their own.

According to Babis, a big camp for the refugees could be created outside the Schengen territory to identify those who in urgent need of assistance. Those who are not, would be denied entry to the Schengen zone.

In recent months, Europe has been grappling with a major influx of migrants fleeing war-torn countries of the Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa.

According to the European Union's external border protection agency Frontex, the total number of refugees detected at bloc's borders between January and July 2015 stands at over 340,000, which is three times higher than during the same period in 2014.