Brussels Should Help Greece Handle Refugee Influx to Save EU – Swedish PM

The European Union should help Athens manage thousands of refugees arriving in the country to show the member states are able to cooperate and to save the bloc’s future, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Swedish prime minister also urged Turkey "to do more" under its joint plan with the bloc to counter excessive migration into the European Union, which was signed in November 2015.

"We’re facing a humanitarian catastrophe. The EU needs now to come to Greece’s aid. If we’re not able to manage this we actually put the entire EU cooperation at risk," Lofven told the Swedish parliament’s EU committee, as quoted by The Local newspaper.

Under the deal, Ankara agreed to help protect EU borders from illegal crossings and to resettle refugees that have managed to get to Europe from Turkey in exchange for some $3.3 billion from Brussels and fast-track negotiations for its accession to the union.

Europe is currently struggling to cope with a massive refugee influx, with millions of refugees fleeing conflict-torn countries of the Middle East and North Africa in search of asylum in stable and wealthy EU states. Most refugees travel from Turkey to the Greek islands before continuing onward into mainland Europe.