Off the wire
• Spain's consumer confidence rises by 0.3 points in August  • Portugal may take in more refugees than quota: minister  • Froome out of Vuelta as Van Poppel wins in Lleida  • U.S. service sector slows expansion pace in August  • Georgia's parliament overrides presidential veto on banking supervision bill  • British services PMI falls to two-year low in August  • Spanish treasury places 5.9 bln euros' bonds at higher interest rates in auction  • U.S. ambassador calls on Lebanon to speed up electing new president  • Chinese film "The Family" touches hearts in Venice  • New round of Libyan political dialogue starts in Geneva  
You are here: 　 Home

Spanish PM calls for unspecific aid for Syria

Xinhua, September 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Thursday called for aid for Syria, although he failed to say just what form that help should entail.

Rajoy was reacting to what he called the "horrifying" sight of the image of a drowned four-year-old Syrian boy being carried from the sea in Turkey.

"I cannot say if it is a good thing or a bad one to use ground forces... What I can say is that the situation in Syria is the cause of a large part of the problems that we are having in Europe (with migrants)," said Rajoy in an interview with radio station Cadena Cope.

Rajoy also used the interview to advise that the Spanish general election could be held on Dec. 20, but he preferred to focus on the question of Syria.

"Settling the situation in Syria is of vital importance," said the Spanish Prime Minister, who explained that the "Islamic State controls a large part of the country and the West cannot allow that for the dignity of the Syrian people."

However, despite saying that the photograph of the drowned child was "truly horrifying," and "a sign of something that is happening often as men, women and children have died in the Mediterranean," he insisted his country would not shift from its position to only offer home to 2,739 asylum seekers in 2015. Endit