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Migrants with no legal right to enter EU must be returned: Tusk

Xinhua, June 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

European Council President Donald Tusk said Friday that migrants with no legal right to enter the European Union (EU) must be returned.

"We had a very long discussion on migration. In our search for a new European consensus on migration, today's decisions on return policy are the first step," Tusk said after the first session of the Council summit.

He said 40,000 people will be relocated from Greece and Italy to other states over the next two years and 20,000 will be resettled.

Interior ministers will finalize the scheme by the end of July, he added.

Tusk said that the Spanish experience on returning illegal migrants was shared at the summit. In the past, Spain has faced with a large wave of illegal migrants, and yet it has managed to prevent this trend.

The president said there will be no solidarity on relocation so long as migrants are not properly registered. The EU can help with logistical and financial support.

"Respect for our rules is a must. If the rules are not respected by everyone, Schengen will be at risk," he said.

Tusk added that the current crisis concerns not only Italy and Greece. Since the beginning of the year, a third of asylum seekers have been registered in Hungary, which is more than in Italy. Endi