European Council President Donald Tusk spoke of the need to contain illegal migration and came out strong against those who are not legitimate asylum seekers.

“Today I expect the European Council to send a strong message to all those who are not legitimate asylum seekers, that they will have no guarantee to stay in Europe. Only with this message can we make real progress on relocation from Italy and Greece”.

He was giving a door-step comment outside the European Council building in Brussels.

“Currently we have no consensus among Member States on mandatory quotas for migrants, but at the same time the voluntary scheme cannot be an excuse to do nothing. I can understand those who want this mechanism but they would only be credible if they give precise pledges by the end of July. Solidarity without sacrifice is pure hypocrisy and we do not need empty declarations of solidarity, but only deeds and numbers”.

Donald Tusk came out strong against the economic migrants and illegal migrants in his statement, while protecting asylum seekers. Interestingly, The Council also plans to discuss strengthening the powers of Frontex a source said, allowing them to initiate the return of those migrants who do not fall within the requirements for international protection.

“The most dangerous thing is not that there are 60 million displaced persons, but rather the rise in numbers, having been 50 million last year. Europe, for now, is the most open continent for migrants. Of course it’s always the same story, that you can do more, but today for Europe the most important thing is to find a new formula and regulations, also as we have a great wave of illegal immigration,” Tusk added.

A source within the EU said that the setting up a list of ‘safe countries’ will be discussed. Currently EU Directives do not regulate this, and if there is agreement, persons migrating from these countries will automatically be considered economic migrants, and thus be returned to their countries. This would ease the tension on the system and allow for quicker processing.

Earlier, sources within the European Council said that the European Commission is currently “informally addressing” the issue of Dublin 2.

The Dublin 2 requires the country which receives an irregular migrant must be the country to grant asylum.

Changing Dublin 2 would be complex, the source explained. She added that collective management through distribution of legitimate asylum seekers is the first step.

She explained that the idea behind the Dublin treaty was to share responsibility. “If parameters are agreed upon by July, the European Parliament must then give an opinion, however this would require time. We can hopefully formulise things by autumn”.

She stressed that migration facilities within countries would need to be brought up to standard.

As for the discussions within the Summit, the topics will pretty much remain similar to those shown within the draft leaked conclusions published by this newsroom yesterday, found here.