The moves, by the foreign and interior ministers of the 10 countries, come amid Europe’s preparations for another surge in people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and beyond as winter wanes and the weather turns warmer.
The practical effect of the steps they agreed on during a meeting in Vienna on Wednesday will probably be to keep more of the migrants in Greece, the primary point of entry into the European Union for people coming from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and other troubled countries.
The ministers also agreed to set standards for what kind of information migrants would need to provide to be registered in their countries, to recognize formally that each state was responsible for protecting its borders, and to offer support to Macedonia, whose border with Greece has become the latest focal point for migrants trying to make their way to Germany and other prosperous Northern European nations. The Greek police forcibly removed Afghan protesters from train tracks along the border with Macedonia on Tuesday.
The Austrian interior minister, Johanna Mikl-Leitner, said her country would send up to 20 more police officers to help Macedonia, which has also received support from Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia and offers of more assistance from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland.
The Hungarian government, which has been among the most hostile to migrants, also announced plans to hold a referendum on whether the country should accept European commitments on taking in refugees.
“It is not possible to process unlimited numbers of migrants and applicants for asylum,” said a declaration issued by the meeting attendees, which included European Union members — Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia — as well as Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. The document cited “limited resources and reception capacities, potential consequences for internal security and social cohesion, as well as challenges with regard to integration.”
Austria recently capped the number of entries and asylum applications it would accept each day, a move that rippled through Europe and down to Macedonia, which ultimately tightened controls along its border with Greece.
That move stranded thousands of migrants hoping to head north from Greece, and Austrian officials said the 10 countries felt compelled to act immediately even if they favored a European Union solution to the crisis.
Austria joined Germany last summer in throwing open its borders to Syrians and others stranded in Hungary. That solidarity evaporated in recent weeks after the government in Vienna announced a limit of 37,500 refugees this year and caps on the number of people admitted daily: 80 to apply for asylum in Austria or 3,200 to move on to Germany. The meeting did not yield an agreement that would impose a similar cap in all of the countries on the migrant trail.
“We have to reduce the influx now,” said Ms. Mikl-Leitner, Austria’s interior minister. “This is a question of survival for the European Union.”