Don’t believe smugglers. No European country will be a transit country’.
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“We will not push back people in the sea, risking the lives of children”, he said. It is all for nothing.
The EU on Wednesday proposed a €700 million emergency aid plan to help Greece and other countries deal with Europe’s worst migration crisis since World War II.
Tusk’s speech at a news conference in Greece revealed how troubled and powerless Europe has become.
Greece today said it is making long-term preparations to help as many as 150,000 stranded migrants as Macedonia and countries in the Balkans refuse to let them cross into their territories. Nearly every day, a new migrant camp opens.
Europe is asking illegal economic migrants to stay away.
But he insisted that the solution can only be temporary and Greece will accept only its fair share of permanently resettled refugees.
Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have also vowed to help Bulgaria and Macedonia seal their borders with Greece, should Athens fail to stem the tide of migrants arriving from Turkey by mid-March.
Tusk said: “All parties must use their influence to give the cease-fire a chance to succeed”. “It would effectively break the business model of smugglers”, he said.
Vitsas said that in the 24 hours to 8 a.m. local time Thursday, 2,122 migrants entered the country.
They aim to reach Germany and other countries in northern Europe but are finding their way blocked by increasing border controls.
The European Union president is traveling throughout the continent, meeting with leaders to find ways to mitigate the refugee crisis.
Migrants who are waiting to cross the Greek-Macedonian border, try to bring down a tree near the village of Idomeni, Greece, March 3, 2016.
Macedonian authorities, who had been letting in small groups of migrants Thursday morning, closed the border again after the railway protest. Aid agencies warned of a possible risk of infectious diseases, given the area’s limited resources.
Before Ankara, Tusk was in Athens Thursday morning, where he met the Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras.
Some European countries such as Austria and Macedonia implemented restrictive measures on their borders aimed at decreasing the number of arriving migrants and refugees.
“Our joint action plan with Turkey is and will remain a priority”, said Tusk.
“Greece will demand that all countries respect the European treaty and that there will be sanctions for those that do not”, he said.
Tusk’s visit to Greece and Turkey are an attempt to forge some sort of consensus before an European Union summit on the migrants on Monday.
Europe is facing an unprecedented influx of refugees, most of whom are fleeing conflict zones in Africa and the Middle East, particularly Syria.
The Calais situation topped the agenda at talks between French President Francois Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron in northern France on Thursday. Scuffles have broken out this week as the French authorities tried to dismantle the camp.
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His Deputy Defence Minister Dimitres Vitsas said there were now almost 32,000 migrants on the Greek islands and the mainland, and a senior United Nations migration official said the number could surge to 70,000 in the coming weeks.
