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Stop coming to Europe: EU’s Tusk to economic refugees

Thursday, 03 March 2016 3:23 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 03 March 2016 3:26 PM ]

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (R) meets with European Council President Donald Tusk at the Maximos Mansion in Athens, Greece, March 3, 2016. ©Reuters

The European Council’s president has warned economic refugees that they will not be welcomed in Europe, calling on them to stop making perilous journeys to the continent.

“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,” Donald Tusk made the remarks following a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens on Thursday.

The official also stressed that Greece or any other European state will no longer serve as a transit country for asylum seekers, urging an end to unilateral actions by EU member states to deal with the refugee crisis.

Austria and some Balkan countries have imposed restrictions on their borders, limiting the number of crossings and leaving up to 30,000 refugees stuck at the Greece-Macedonia border.

Tusk is on a trip through Balkan states to try to drum up support for a united approach to deal with the refugee crisis before an EU summit due on Monday.

The Greek premier, for his part, said his country will demand at the upcoming EU summit that refugee burden sharing be “equitable” among all countries in the 28-nation bloc.

Refugees sit on the ground as they wait to cross the Greek-Macedonian border near the Greek village of Idomene on March 3, 2016. ©AFP

Athens would continue to try to help asylum seekers, but not at any cost, he noted, adding, “We will not allow Greece or any other country to be turned into a warehouse of souls.”

In another development on Thursday, Sweden and Denmark announced the temporary extension of border identification checks in an attempt aimed at deterring the flow of refugees into the Nordic states.

Swedish Interior Minister Anders Ygeman said systematic checks had been prolonged until April 8. Copenhagen also followed suit and extended random identification checks along its border with Germany until April 3.

Europe is facing an unprecedented influx of refugees, most of whom are fleeing conflict-ridden zones in Africa and the Middle East, particularly Syria.

Many blame the support by some Western countries for militants operating in the Middle East as the main reason behind the refugee influx into Europe.

More than 131,000 asylum seekers have reached Europe via the Mediterranean so far this year, more than the total number recorded in the first half of 2015, according to the latest figures by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

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