Donald Tusk

Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, sought to distance himself from the hard-line anti-migrant views of leaders in his native Poland, saying he would never speak about migrants the way they do.

Greek opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis has voiced his opposition to calls by European Council President Donald Tusk for the abolition of mandatory quotas on relocating refugees across the European Union.

Arriving at a meeting of the center-right European People's Party (EPP) in Brussels, Mitsotakis said Tusk's proposal was "wrong."

Speaking from a summit of European leaders in Brussels where he hopes to secure the support of Berlin and Brussels in curbing a newly burgeoning migration crisis, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Friday described as "unacceptable" calls by European Council President Donald Tusk for obligatory refugee quotas to be abolished.

European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas has criticized a proposal by European Council President Donald Tusk for the abolition of mandatory quotas on relocating asylum seekers across the EU.

"Returning to a pre-crisis mode of isolated uncoordinated national actions is not an option," New Europe website quoted Schinas as saying Wednesday.

The notion of a unified Europe is in no way served by European Council President Donald Tusk's proposal to EU leaders that would essentially scrap the refugee quota scheme which foresees member-states taking in a certain number of asylum seekers. 

As pressure continues to build on the Aegean islands with ever more undocumented migrants arriving from neighboring Turkey, European Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos on Tuesday slammed a proposal by European Council President Donald Tusk for the abolition of mandatory quotas on relocating asylum seekers across the EU. 

European Council President Donald Tusk is planning to tell EU leaders to scrap the refugee quota scheme that foresees member states taking in a certain number of migrants, the Guardian reported on Monday.

European Council President Donald Tusk wrote on his personal Twitter profile that his meeting with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama in Brussels had gone well and that it was in view of the Western Balkans summit on 17 May next year in Sofia, said Confrontus Edition.

The European Union has handed Ireland an effective veto over any Brexit deal, increasing pressure on the prime minister to make further concessions on the border issue, The Times reports.

Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, said any agreement between London and Brussels that was unacceptable to Ireland was also unacceptable to the EU.

 When Theresa May visits Brussels on Friday, EU negotiators will be listening intently for signs the British prime minister is preparing to risk a domestic backlash and raise her offer to secure a Brexit deal in December, Reuters reports.