Author: NEWEurope.

(AP) — The latest news as hundreds of thousands make their way across Europe in search of safety and a better life. All times local.

6:45 p.m.

The presidents of Croatia and Slovenia say all countries on Europe’s migrant route must jointly manage the flow of tens of thousands of asylum-seekers passing through their territories.

Slovenia’s Borut Pahor and Croatia’s Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic urged dialogue Thursday to ease border tensions that soared after Slovenia started putting up a razor-wire border fence to control the surge of people.

Croatia has lodged formal protest, saying sections of the fence have entered its territory, but Slovenia has refused to remove the barrier. The two neighbors have been locked in a border dispute since the breakup of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

The two leaders say Europe’s migrant crisis will be discussed at a regional summit this month in the Croatian capital of Zagreb and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will be among those attending.

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6:30 p.m.

Hungary is ready to quickly build a fence on part of its border with Romania if Europe’s migration crisis warrants it.

Janos Lazar, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff, says migrants coming up through the Balkans may try to reach Hungary from Romania if Slovenia and Austria stop letting them enter. If so, he says Hungary has all the materials and expertise it needs to make a new border fence.

Hungary has closed off its borders with Serbia and Croatia with fences to migrants, who have been diverted further west toward Slovenia in their efforts to reach Germany and other wealthy EU countries.

Lazar says Hungary “does not need immigrants and neither does Europe. This is the official Hungarian position.”

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