01:54Belgium: 'The most urgent question is how to regain control of external borders' - Tusk
President of the European Council Donald Tusk spoke to the press after meeting with the heads of state of the 28 member countries of the European Union in Brussels, Wednesday. Tusk told the press "the most urgent question we should ask ourselves tonight is how to regain control of our external borders, otherwise it doesn't make any sense to even speak about a common European migration policy."
Tusk also reported to the press on the results of the emergency summit on the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe so far, saying that in brief the situation is the following: "One, conflict in the Middle East, especially in Syria and Iraq will not end any time soon. Two, the eight million displaced people within Syria, while about 4 million have fled from Syria to Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. This means that today we are talking about millions of potential refugees trying to reach Europe, not thousands. Three, after my visits to Turkey, Jordan and other countries in the region, I realised that our partners are expecting our help to solve their refugee problems, rather than thinking how they can help us," he explained.
The emergency summit follows a meeting between EU interior and justice ministers the previous day, when the plan to relocate 120,000 refugees across member states was approved.
01:54President of the European Council Donald Tusk spoke to the press after meeting with the heads of state of the 28 member countries of the European Union in Brussels, Wednesday. Tusk told the press "the most urgent question we should ask ourselves tonight is how to regain control of our external borders, otherwise it doesn't make any sense to even speak about a common European migration policy."
Tusk also reported to the press on the results of the emergency summit on the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe so far, saying that in brief the situation is the following: "One, conflict in the Middle East, especially in Syria and Iraq will not end any time soon. Two, the eight million displaced people within Syria, while about 4 million have fled from Syria to Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. This means that today we are talking about millions of potential refugees trying to reach Europe, not thousands. Three, after my visits to Turkey, Jordan and other countries in the region, I realised that our partners are expecting our help to solve their refugee problems, rather than thinking how they can help us," he explained.
The emergency summit follows a meeting between EU interior and justice ministers the previous day, when the plan to relocate 120,000 refugees across member states was approved.