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Refugee ‘hotspots’ to be operational within 15 days, EC says

Both nations have hosted thousands of refugees coming mainly from Syria and Afghanistan, and are backing the European Commission’s efforts to establish a quota system for EU member countries.

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By accepting the plan and implementing it, Ankara “would also contribute to accelerate Turkey’s fulfilment of the visa liberalization roadmap benchmarks”, the text said, referring to Ankara’s long-held desire to smooth travel for its citizens.

“I know that this is a very dramatic dilemma”, he said.

EU Council President Donald Tusk told lawmakers Tuesday that “according to Turkish estimates, another 3 million potential refugees may come from Aleppo and its neighborhood”.

He warned that “the world around us does not intend to help Europe” and that a few of the EU’s neighbours “look with satisfaction at our troubles”.

Also on Tuesday, the European Union border agency said a further 600 officers would be sent to Greece to assist with border control and registration duties.

Afghan refugees gather around a fire to warm themselves from the early morning cold, after spending the night at a resting point, after arriving on a dinghy from the Turkish coast to the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos, Tuesday, October 6, 2015.

Faymann and Greece’s Alexis Tsipras are due on Lesbos around mid-day Monday and are to tour the reception center set up to register and process the arriving refugees and migrants.

“Significantly more must happen than is now being prepared to achieve border security with the possibility of guaranteeing the right to asylum through a door called “distribution center”, Faymann said.

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Tsipras said debt-laden Greece could not possibly handle such an enormous challenge on its own and provide basic aid to people who are fleeing war-torn regions seeking a better future in Europe.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann center visits the Moria camp in Lesbos island, Greece on Tuesday Oct. 6 2015. The Austrian Chancellor and the Greek premier visited Lesbos island Tuesday to view first-hand the impact of the refugee crisis and tour