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EU leaders call for more action to tackle migration crisis

Xinhua, March 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

European Union (EU) leaders on Friday afternoon called for more action to be taken to tackle the migration crisis, as they gathered here for the second day of a two-day summit.

"Priority will continue to be given to regaining control of our external borders," said the leaders in a statement after the summit.

The EU leaders agreed to use all means to support the capacity of Greece for the return of irregular migrants to Turkey in the context of the Greek-Turkish readmission protocol and the EU-Turkey readmission agreement as of June 1, 2016.

They also called for more work to be done on hotspots with the full assistance of the EU.

They called on emergency support to be provided to help Greece cope with the humanitarian situation, as well as accelerating the relocation of migrants and refugees from Greece, which includes conducting the necessary security checks.

Moreover, they called for strengthening cooperation with the Western Balkan countries in tackling the migration crisis.

"The European Council is extremely vigilant as regards possible new routes for irregular migrants and calls for taking any measures that may become necessary in that respect," according to the statement.

"In this context, the fight against smugglers everywhere and by all appropriate means remains key," added the statement. Endit