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Don't come to Europe, Donald Tusk tells economic migrants 'Do not come to Europe', Donald Tusk warns economic migrants
(35 minutes later)
The European Council president, Donald Tusk, has warned economic migrants not to come to Europe, after holding talks on the refugee crisis with the Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras. One of the EU’s most senior leaders has warned would-be economic migrants not to undertake a life-threatening journey to Europe.
“I want to appeal to all potential illegal economic migrants, wherever you are from: do not come to Europe. Do not believe the smugglers. Do not risk your lives and your money. It is all for nothing,” Tusk said at a press conference in Athens. In a dramatic appeal aimed at “potential illegal economic migrants”, the president of the European council, Donald Tusk, said: “Do not come to Europe. Do not believe the smugglers. Do not risk your lives and your money. It is all for nothing.”
“Greece or any other European country will no longer be a transit country. The Schengen rules will enter into force again,” he added. Tusk was speaking after meeting Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens, where he pledged support for Greece, the country on the frontline of the migrant crisis, where up to 2,000 people are arriving each day, many fleeing conflict and violence in Syria and Iraq.
“Excluding Greece from Schengen is neither an end nor a means in this crisis. Greece is part of Schengen, of the euro area and of the European Union and will remain so.” At least 10,000 people are stuck near Greece’s northern border with Macedonia at Idomeni, with the vast majority barred from travelling north in the hope of reaching Germany and other countries. The EU, which on Wednesday announced €700m (£544m) in emergency aid, is scrambling to avert a humanitarian catastrophe as it confronts the largest movement of refugees since the end of the second world war.
Tusk is in Athens as part of a regional tour to address the migration crisis. He has also travelled to Slovenia, and later on Thursday he will meet the Turkish prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, in Ankara, where he will urge Turkey to offer more help in reducing the flow of migrants to Europe via Greece. Tusk’s visit to Greece is part of an intense three-day trip around the western Balkans that included a visit to the Dobova refugee camp in Slovenia on Wednesday. He is now travelling to Ankara to meet Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoğlu before an EU-Turkey summit on Monday. Tusk, who will spend a further 24 hours in the Turkish capital waiting for an audience with president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, hopes to persuade Ankara to take more steps to reduce the number of people travelling to Europe.
Tusk will then travel on to Istanbul for talks on Friday with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan before next week’s EU summit with Turkey in Brussels, where the migration crisis will top the agenda. Last year the EU and Turkey signed an action plan in which Europe offered to spend €3bn on helping some of the 2.5 million refugees in Turkey in exchange for help in reducing numbers travelling to Europe and reviving Turkey’s long-stalled EU membership talks. But Europe has expressed impatience with the continued high number of people making the perilous crossing over the Aegean sea. Turkey has been unimpressed with the many weeks it took Europe to find the money, which has yet to translate into projects on the ground.
“Our joint action plan with Turkey is and will remain a priority,” said Tusk. “This ultimately means that the high numbers [of arrivals] we are still witnessing have to go down and quickly.”
Tsipras has warned that Greece is unable to cope with the numbers and cannot become “a warehouse of souls”. EU authorities in Brussels echo Greece’s calls for a European approach, but have proved powerless to stop unilateral decisions by member states. Since September 2015, eight countries in Europe’s passport-free Schengen zone have reintroduced border controls. Hitting out against such unilateral action, Tusk said: “We have to avoid an illusion that instead of the full respect for Schengen rules, there might be another, easy and convenient European solution.”
As the Guardian revealed on Wednesday, EU authorities want all internal border controls to be ended by November 2016. The European commission is set to announce its action plan to “save Schengen” on Friday, to prepare the way for Monday’s meeting with Turkey, as well as an EU summit in mid March where EU leaders will attempt to forge new rules on asylum and migration. But the commission’s wish for “a return to normalcy” seems like a tall order, as thousands continue to arrive on Europe’s shores each day.