JUST two months into its presidency of the Council of the European Union, Croatia has taken decisive action to deal with the growing migrant crisis affecting the Eastern part of the EU.
Following the decision of Turkish President Recep Erdogan to allow refugees from Syria into the EU, Croatia has convened an urgent meeting of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council which will take place today.
Erdogan said on Monday that he had refused €1 billion in European aid for holding migrants in Turkey because the EU did not wish to “share the burden”. His action was provoked by the military conflict at Idlib in Syria and was said by some politicians to be “bullying” the EU.
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Greece will bear the biggest burden of Turkey’s decision to open its borders and in response, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic as chairman of the Council of the EU visited the Greek-Turkish border together with Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel and European Parliament President David Sassoli.
The leaders were joined by Croatian Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic, who will chair today’s meeting.
Croatia, with a population of a million less than Scotland, joined the EU in 2013 and still retains its currency, the Kuna.
Andrej Plenkovic said: “It’s important that Greece, with its security forces, prevents a possible new illegal migration wave.
“We have sent the message that the EU and all member states will support Greece.”
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