The letter sent by Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis to the College of Commissioners is reportedly what made European partners burst out, according to TA NEA newspaper.

Mr. Andriukaitis visited Lesvos on November 19 and wrote a letter addressed to European Commission describing what he saw and experienced on the island which has received thousands of refugees and immigrants over the last 12 months.

It is said that he wrote: “I wasn’t in Africa neither on a remote developing country. I saw all these here in EU, on the island of Lesvos in Greece. I was shocked”.

Lithuanian Commissioner, among other things, reported: “I was on a coast, when a small boat arrived carrying women and children, some of them were sick, other were simply exhausted, frozen, dehydrated. There was no place to examine or treat them, there was no equipment or health staff, other than a doctor of a NGO. No ambulance, no blanket. I was told that three small children who had reached the same coast died from hypothermia a few days ago. Mr President I wasn’t in Africa, or in a remote developing country. I saw all these here in the EU, on the island of Lesvos in Greece. I was shocked”.

According to the newspaper, this letter sparked the tension in the meeting of the College of Commissioners, while the President of the European Commission said that Greece “cannot protect the external borders of EU and that if there is no progress on that until December 17, Greece should be expelled temporarily from the Schengen area”.