Tusk has pulled no punches, bluntly warning economic migrants to stay away.
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European Council president Donald Tusk made the comments as attitudes harden against migrants, many of whom who have traveled in search of a better life along with refugees fleeing conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.
The ultimate aim was to eliminate the illegal sea transit of migrants from Turkey to Greece, Tusk said after meeting Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens, although he said no specific numbers had been agreed with the Turks. Do not believe the smugglers.
“Do not risk your lives and your money. It is all for nothing”.
Refugees coming from the Aegean islands are piling up in the country’s main port of Piraeus and in central Athens.
If Turkey substantially reduces the migrant flow, Rutte has said, Europe could implement a more “ambitious” plan to resettle refugees directly from camps in Turkey, which already host 2.7 million Syrian refugees.
On a visit to Greece – on the frontline of Europe’s worst migration crisis since the Second World War – Mr Tusk told economic migrants it was pointless to apply for asylum in the EU.
Sobotka called for a number of complementary measures, including the provision of more aid to Greece given that migrants can no longer freely exit to the north. “But it is Turkey and the European Union which are paying the price”.
At least 10,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees have been waiting for days at the Idomeni crossing on Greece’s border with Macedonia, in an official shelter and in tents that they pitched in fields.
Countries including Austria, Macedonia and Serbia have imposed border restrictions which have led to bottlenecks of migrants in Greece, prompting Avramopoulos to warn of a looming large-scale humanitarian crisis along the migration route through the Balkans.
Breedlove, who is head of Supreme Allied Command in Europe, said the migration “masks the movement of criminals, terrorists and foreign fighters (into Europe)”.
Turkey is at the heart of the EU’s efforts to slow the influx of refugees and migrants and the bloc wants Ankara to ensure that daily arrivals fall below 1,000 from 2,000-3,000 at present.
More than 1 million migrants and asylum seekers reached its shores past year.
In terms of cooperation with Turkey, he underlined that, although there has been good progress in the EU-Turkey Action Plan, the number of illegal entries from Turkey to Greece “remains far too high”.
The commission said on Wednesday that “it will be prepared for this eventuality and would act without delay, proposing border controls only at sections of the border where they are necessary and proportionate”.
In a pre-summit report to EU leaders, the Commission estimated that a complete collapse of passport-free travel in the Schengen zone could cost the European economy up to 18 billion euros ($19.8 billion) a year.
Eight EU countries have temporary, emergency border controls in place now to control the flow of migrants, putting in jeopardy one of Europe’s most prized achievements.
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And he wasn’t clear who would actually carry out the expulsions: Greece itself, European Union border agency Frontex or even other organizations like North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
