European Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos walks by a metal fence at the "Moria" camp, near the port of Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos | DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP/Getty Images EU considers civil mission in the Balkans Diplomats discuss proposals for controlling flow of refugees.

The EU is considering launching a “civil mission” to help Western Balkan countries deal with the flow of refugees through the region, officials said Thursday.

Diplomats met in Brussels to discuss ways to control the influx of migrants traveling from the Middle East through the Balkan countries and on to northern Europe. The proposal for a civil mission is included in a document prepared by Luxembourg, the holder of the rotating EU Council presidency, and obtained by POLITICO.

The document is meant for discussion and doesn't yet represent an official position, which will have to be worked out before a meeting of EU justice and home affairs ministers on November 9. The Luxembourg government suggests that “one must consider" a civil mission "adapted to the situation of a heavy influx of migrants.” It does not include further details.

A diplomat familiar with the discussion said such a mission would likely be similar to an operation the EU implemented in 2005 to provide support for management of the border between Ukraine and Moldova. That ongoing mission, Eubam, is composed mainly of border control experts and law enforcement officials from EU countries under the supervision of the European External Action Service, the bloc's diplomatic corps.

The proposals follow an emergency meeting Sunday of leaders of 11 countries, including three from outside the EU, who agreed on a 17-point action plan aimed at controlling the flow of refugees along the Western Balkans route. But in the days since, countries have warned that they will need help to carry out the agreement.

“It is time to implement these measures as soon as possible,” said a Commission spokesman Thursday, “if we want to avoid tragedies.”

A mission would likely be similar to the 2005 operation to provide support for management of the Ukrainian-Moldovan border.

At the mini-summit, leaders agreed that Greece will provide shelter for an additional 30,000 refugees before the end of the year, plus another 20,000 with help from international organizations including the UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency. An additional 50,000 refugees will be sheltered elsewhere along the Western Balkans route.

“Greece has started talking to UNCHR for the additional 20,000 refugees,” an EU official said.

Leaders also agreed to improve coordination among national capitals by setting up government contact points in ministerial offices to discuss migration flows and avoid countries sending refugees across borders without informing neighboring nations.

These contact points have now been set up, and officials on Thursday afternoon had a video-conference to assess progress and try to reach a deal in which countries would build facilities to host the additional 50,000 refugees.

But the total pledges have now reached only 12,000 reception places by the end of the year, the Commission said in a statement. Slovenia and Croatia have committed 2,000 places each, Serbia 3,000 and Austria 5,000.

Slovenia also is now considering the use of “technical barriers” to control the flow of migrants, said the country's interior minister, Vesna Györkös Žnidar, in a press conference Thursday. She added that Slovenia is “not planning any fences similar to Hungary’s.”

Austria had already announced earlier in the week that it would erect "technical barriers" on its border with Slovenia to help control the flow of thousands of migrants crossing daily into Austrian territory, said Austria interior minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner.

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