Tsipras: ‘Crime in the Aegean must be stopped’
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and European Parliament President Martin Schulz on Thursday visited Lesvos, a Greek island which has received more than half of about 600,000 refugees and migrants who arrived in the country this year.
"Our vision is to have a Europe without walls, without fences, without borders," Tsipras said during the visit, the Athens-Macedonian New Agency reported.
The Greek premier added that EU has borders with Turkey, since the neighbouring country is not an EU country.
"What happens in the Aegean is a crime that must be stopped," the prime minister reiterated.
"What is required is to come to an agreement with Turkey so as to reduce the flows by combating traffickers," he added.
"These people are criminals. In order to earn some 'black' money, they lead people to death," said Tsipras.
During a joint press conference with Schulz on Wednesday, Tsipras said that Greece would create, either by the end of the year or by January at the latest, space for 20,000 refugees to be temporarily hosted in Greece while they wait to be relocated.
[AMNA]
