Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras welcomed the deal achieved between EU and Turkey on refugee, while insisting on his stance that the refugee is a European issue and not a Greek one..

“The refugee is an international crisis affecting the EU and from the first moment it should have been addressed as a common European problem” he said.

“There was a risk that Greece would be turned into a warehouse of souls, but today the plans of unilateral actions are put aside” he said.

He added: “Greece has scored a great diplomatic success. We cooperated with Cyprus to prevent Turkey from putting on the table unreasonable demands concerning aspects of the Cyprus issue”.

Mr. Tsipras also thanked French president Francois Hollande on his initiative to open Chapter 33.

He said that Greece will receive European support in terms of both personnel and resources, with 2,300 asylum and security experts and interpreters expected in Greece to assist in managing the refugees and migrants.