Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras attended the European Union Council on refugee issues on Thursday. Following the conclusio of the summit, he expressed satisfaction concerning developments but complained concerning the pace of these.

“The European Union is proceeding at a turtle’s pace,” he said, adding, however, that “decisions are in the right direction.”

He pointed to the huge financial burden placed on countries like Greece when having to cope with the reception and documentation of migrants and called for a loosening of fiscal policy demands and financial support for such countries.

He said that cooperation with Turkey on the migration issue is something that Greece had raised in March, 2015, adding that the EU’s deal with Turkey on an “action plan” to help stem the flow of refugees was a positive sign. It would allow for the setup of facilities at “hotspots” noting a large migrant inflow. Hence, the burden of dealing with the processing of people would be shared with Turkey. “This will allow us to reduce the massive cost of lives in the Aegean Sea caused by refugees who board boats of traffickers and place their life in danger,” said Tsipras.

He warned that there should be no compromises with Turkey on criticial issues, he said, “especially on matters of national sovereignty, a point agreed upon by all EU members.”

“The membership process has some principles. These principles and terms must be followed to the last detail,” he said regarding Turkey’s accession to the EU.