Tusk to economic migrants: 'Don't come to Europe'
Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, has warned economic migrants against coming to Europe.
In a tweet, Tusk wrote: "Appeal to potential illegal economic migrants: Don't come to Europe. Don't believe smugglers. No European country will be a transit country."
The warning, came after a joint press conference with Alexis Tsipras, Greece's Prime Minister.
Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia, imposed a daily limit on the number of migrants allowed to enter their territory last week. The cap, along with restrictions on who was allowed to enter (Macedonia has completely shut their border to Afghans), has lead to thousands of migrants being stranded on the Greek side of the Macedonia-Greece border.
The situation has led the UNHCR to warn that Europe was on the cusp of a self-induced humanitarian crisis and warned that the tensions building up on the continent could fuel more violence.
Tusk has been meeting with heads of states throughout Europe before hosting next week another emergency EU summit on the refugee crisis. Tusk already met with the Slovenian, Austrian, Croatian and Macedonian heads of state and will meet with Turkey's Erdogan on Friday.
Tusk's warning has been the strongest yet by any senior European official who is linked with coordinating the EU's response to the refugee crisis.
"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. Greece or any other European country will no longer be a transit country," Tusk said after his meeting with Tsipras according to the Financial Times.
In another tweet, Tusk also affirmed that the EU would not abandon Greece and praised the European Union's executive body proposition to set aside £540 million to assist Greece in dealing with the huge number of refugees arriving on its shores every day.