Tusk addresses EP on refugees

(refiling to fix slug) (ANSA) - Strasbourg, October 6 - Europe must rely on itself to tackle the current refugee crisis, European Council President Donald Tusk said Tuesday.
    "Let us have no illusions," Tusk told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
    "Today, we have to count mainly on ourselves. The world around us does not intend to help Europe. Many of our neighbours have much bigger problems to tackle, and some look with satisfaction at our troubles," he continued, warning against use of refugees as a political bargaining chip.
    "We are slowly becoming witnesses to the birth of a new form of political pressure, and some even call it a kind of a new hybrid war, in which migratory waves have become a tool, a weapon against neighbours. This requires particular sensitivity and responsibility on our side," Tusk said. "It is our common obligation to assist refugees as well as to protect the EU's external borders," he continued.
    "Everyone must take up this obligation and at the same time no-one should be left alone with the burden. That is how I understand solidarity," he said.
    "We have to respect commonly agreed rules. When someone says that they have no intention of observing European law, for example Dublin or quotas, they undermine the essence of solidarity and our community. Observing rules will always mean sacrificing part of our interests. I would like to dedicate these words to the Hungarians and the Italians, to the Slovaks and the Greeks," Tusk added. Returning to the subject of external border control, "Europe without its external borders equals Europe without Schengen" the European Council President said. In this respect the EU needs to work with neighbouring countries including Turkey, continued Tusk.
    "We have no alternative," he said.