Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called for a new European initiative to deal with a new refugee/migrant crisis emanating from the Middle East, warning that a worsening situation in the rebel-held northwest Syrian province of Idlib will cause a spike in the flow of people trying to reach Europe.
Tsipras spoke on Wednesday from an EU summit in Salzburg.
According to government sources in Athens who leaked what Tsipras said during a summit dinner, the Greek side called a “fairer distribution” of the refugee burden by all EU member, and better cooperation with third countries, i.e. the countries from which foreign nationals try to illegally enter the continent.
At the same time, Tsipras called for the urgent creation of a European border patrol force and coast guard, as well as a European mechanism for repatriation of third country nationals whose asylum request has been turned down.
