European Council President Donald Tusk has on Thursday called on countries around the world to do more to help Europe deal with the largest refugee crisis on the Continent since the Second World War.
Speaking at a press conference ahead of the G-7 summit in Japan, Tusk said the issue was a “global crisis,” not just a European one. It’s only “because of geography that the most responsibility is and will continue to be placed on Europe,” Tusk said.
He called on countries worldwide to provide additional financial aid and lobby financial institutions and donors to provide more funds. He also urged countries to implement resettlement schemes and other legal forms of migration.
“The international community should acknowledge that when Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan assist refugees, they are in fact providing a global public good. And this public good must be financed by the global community,” Tusk said.
“The world has been confronted with the highest number of refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons since the Second World War. This is why more action is needed to make legal channels of migration possible,” he added.
Tusk argued Europe was already shouldering more than its share of responsibility.
“Those who criticise us should rather think how to increase their assistance because what Europe provides is already massive,” he said.