BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — Measures taken by the European Union to resolve a massive refugee crisis cannot be mandatory for some and voluntary for other EU member states, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Thursday.
"We must remain united … but united and with solidarity everywhere, not only in the northwestern side of Europe, but also in the southeastern, also in the Mediterranean. In Europe [there] cannot be rules for some and ‘a la carte’ [voluntary] for others," Tsipras said, arriving at the European Council summit in Brussels.
The European Union is currently struggling to manage a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The EU border agency Frontex recorded more than 1.8 million illegal border crossings into the European Union in 2015.
