World
European Council President Donald Tusk is due to visit Greece and Turkey as he tries to find a common approach to Europe's worsening migration crisis.
Mr Tusk has said reducing the number of migrants travelling from Turkey to the Greek islands is key to avoiding a humanitarian disaster. More than 25,000 migrants are now stranded in Greece as border controls further north are tightened. Migration is also due to be discussed at a U.K.-French summit on Thursday. U.K. P.M. David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande will hold talks in the French city of Amiens. Counter-terrorism and conflicts in Libya and Syria are also expected to be on the agenda.
Reuters writes:
The European Union, faced with a growing refugee crisis in Greece, launched a new aid program on Wednesday worth an initial 700 million euros that mirrors the kind of disaster relief it offers developing nations. European states have tightened border controls following the arrival of more than a million migrants by sea last year and the Athens government has appealed for help to house and care for tens of thousands still arriving and now stranded in Greece. "We are ... really worried," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said of the build-up of migrants on the now-closed Macedonian border, adding that the new plan had been prompted by fears of "a huge humanitarian crisis in Greece". The Commission's proposal, if approved, will channel 300 million euros ($325 million) this year from its 155 billion euro annual budget to the new emergency assistance scheme and 200 million euros both next year and in 2018.
