Remarks by President Donald Tusk after his meeting in Ljubljana with Prime Minister Miro Cerar

Met dank overgenomen van Europese Raad i, gepubliceerd op dinsdag 1 maart 2016.

President Tusk meets Prime Minister Miro Cerar in Ljubljana

01/03/2016

President Tusk meets Prime Minister Miro Cerar in Ljubljana

Good evening. First of all thank you for the warm welcome here in Slovenia and thanks for our many contacts during the crisis. I want to especially underline your role in the process of restoring Schengen, all of Schengen. Let me also say thank you for your initiatives aimed at better co-ordination among the Western Balkan countries. Your engagement is truly invaluable. Thank you for being tough and responsible at the same time, adequately to the situation.

Our talks this evening as well as my talks with Chancellor Faymann in Vienna earlier today focused on how we carry out the decisions of the last European Council. Two weeks ago leaders unanimously agreed that we need to get back to a situation where all Member States fully apply our common rules; including the Schengen Borders Code. To get back to Schengen three elements are key.

First, we need to coordinate more and better. It is natural that important decisions are taken in the capitals but we need to make sure that these decisions are coordinated so they are effective, reinforce each other instead of eroding trust further.

Second, we must be prepared to massively step up our assistance to alleviate the humanitarian consequences of our decision. Greece is the Member State that needs our support the most. It is our shared responsibility that Greece gets the help it needs.

And third, we need to do everything we can to make the EU-Turkey action plan work and significantly reduce the inflow of migrants to Europe via Turkey. There is no good alternative to an effective cooperation with Turkey.

Europe is ready to do its part. At the same time we expect a more intensive engagement from our partners to avoid a humanitarian disaster. I will raise this with Prime Minister Davutoglu and President Erdogan in Turkey later this week.

After our many talks, also here in Ljubljana today, I am convinced that Slovenia and its Prime Minister will play their part in a contributing to a true European solution to the crisis. And I look forward to visiting the Slovenian reception centre for migrants in Dobova tomorrow morning on my way to Zagreb, the next stop of my trip. Thank you.