Tsipras asks Tusk not to encourage “unilateral actions” to close border

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has opposed the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, who had welcomed the closure of the socalled Balkan route, and declared that the closure is not a “common decision” but “unilateral actions by certain countries”.

Tusk thanked on Wednesday the countries of the Western Balkans that have applied border restrictions to close the route and end the policy of allowing the passage of refugees and the irregular flows of migrants.

“I thank Western Balkan countries for implementing part of EU’s comprehensive strategy to deal with migration crisis,” said the politician in a post on Twitter.

“Irregular flows of migrants along Western Balkans route have come to an end. Not a question of unilateral actions but common EU28 decision,” he said in another tweet.

Tsipras has responded through the same social network: “The Western Balkans route has come to an end due to unilateral actions by certain countries. EU has no future if it goes on like that.”

“We expect D. Tusk, president of EU28 to focus efforts on implementing our common decisions and not encourage those who ignore them,” continued the Greek president.

In the statement released at the end of the summit on Monday, the heads of state and governments of the European Union implicitly spoke of a border closure, then discussed the need to reapply the Schengen regulations, which means that refugees have to seek asylum in the first EU country they arrive at.

Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia began on Wednesday to apply more border restrictions to end the illegal entry of people across the Western Balkans towards EU territory and only allow those who have visas and passports.