Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras admitted indirectly that Greece is facing a humanitarian crisis saying that the country “needs humanitarian aid for supplies and equipment” and “funding for infrastructure and recruitment” during the joint conference with European Council President Donald Tusk.

“Greece needs funding to build infrastructure and hiring the necessary personnel. We need humanitarian aid for supplies and equipment. We need to ensure that assistance and funding will be given quickly based on the assessment of Greek authorities,” Mr. Tsipras said.

“Greece will do its best to offer its help to everyone,” he added underlining that Greece protects the EU legislation and will demand from everyone to respect the European Treaty otherwise there will be sanctions.

Mr. Tsipras also stressed that stronger cooperation is needed with Turkey in order to limit refugee flows.

Referring to the European Union, he said that it proved its weakness in the way it handled the refugee crisis, adding that unilateral acts contrary to the European Council decisions led to the drastic reduction of flows from the Balkan route, both for refugees and for Greece.

“EU will not abandon Greece, it will not leave it alone,” European Council President Donald Tusk said.

Tusk stressed that the situation on the west route of the Balkans is dramatic and the EU must act decisively, and noted that especially in Greece the situation is more complex, with the continuous flow of migrants and refugees.
He also called on all potential migrants not to come to Greece, to Europe, not to believe the traffickers, because Greece will not be a transit country.