Mark Rutte Quotes

In Greece, refugees are being waved through to the heart of Europe. That is simply unacceptable in the long run. The European Union cannot act like a human trafficker.

In 2015, the majority of refugees and migrants reached the European Union through Greece. Greek authorities were overwhelmed by the sheer number of people arriving at their shores. But they did not stay there. They were waved through to Central Europe at an increasing pace.

Every country in the E.U. should make a personnel and a financial contribution in that area. We shouldn't leave alone countries like Italy and Greece that have external borders; rather, we must make the external borders safe together.

If Macron thinks there is no immigration crisis in Italy, he should open his doors to the 9,000 migrants France agreed to welcome from Italy in accordance with signed European agreements.

The migratory phenomenon exists, and Europe will have to face it together. The only alternative is a 'beggar-thy-neighbor' solution, in which countries try to load the problem off on their neighbors.

Migrants who set off for Europe don't want to go to Bulgaria or Hungary. They want to go to Germany, Austria, or Sweden.

We need to shift our focus from the debates about redistributing refugees within the E.U. and should concentrate more on external border protection.

We must set up large refugee camps outside the E.U. with armed security and financial support provided by the Union.

Through both our admissions policies and, equally importantly, through our support for international protection and assistance, the United States leads the world in responding to refugee and related humanitarian crises.

And so border security is not simply preventing people from getting in, but very often preventing somebody from leaving for the wrong reasons.

It shouldn't be the asylum seekers wondering which country they want go to. It should be Europe telling them where to be, be it Lithuania, Sweden, or wherever.

Before we kill Schengen, we have to make Dublin work.

Enough of Sicily being the refugee camp of Europe. I will not stand by and do nothing while there are landings after landings of migrants.

I ask our European partners for a truly European migration management. The burden of landings cannot weigh only on the countries of arrival.

Our feeling of community and security in Europe requires safe external borders.

A European army must protect the continent from two sides, from the east and from the south, in terms of protecting against terrorism and migration.

I want to send a very strong signal to people who do think about making this journey - we will do everything we can to make sure it is not a success in the sense that I don't want people to think that if they leave a safe country like France that they can get to Britain and just get to stay.

Whoever boards a boat and tries to enter Europe illegally has ruined his chances of gaining asylum in Europe and will be sent back.

I don't know why legal immigration even exists anymore when I can just put on some bronzer, get on a dingy boat, and just show up at the beaches of Sicily with the Koran in my hand.

Italian ports are no longer at the disposal of traffickers.

Some people say these aren't huge numbers, but let's also remember that our job here is to make sure this doesn't turn into a new route for ever-increased illegal migration, so I want to stop it now as much as I possibly can.

We now have two options: We can commence operations at the Hotspots in Italy and Greece and continue to do nothing - in which case they would soon be overflowing. Or we can show responsibility and organize a distribution system that takes into account the limits of each individual member state. Migrants, for their part, must recognize that, while they have a right to protection, they do not have the right to freely choose the country. In addition, it is clear: Not everybody can come to us.

The claim made by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán that the refugee question is a German problem is incorrect. It is a European problem.

We have a human rights interest. Then there is the immigration problem. The human-rights violations have caused people to take to boats and flood not only the United States, but other countries in the region, creating great instability.

Hopping the fence or wading the Rio Grande River isn't part of America's immigration process.