Commission pledges border guards, aid to Greece to tackle migrant surge

The European Commission presented on Wednesday a six-point action plan to support Greece for border policing, that includes financial aid and beefing up Frontex patrols in the Aegean and Evros, the northeastern border with Turkey.

More than 10,000 migrants have been trying to breach the Greek border with Turkey after Ankara said last Thursday it would no longer try to halt illegal migration flows to Europe.

"Greece faces an incredibly challenging situation, one that is completely unprecedented and this difficult task cannot fall on Greece alone. It is the responsibility of the whole of Europe," Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas said in a joint press conference with EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson in Brussels.

Presenting the plan, Schinas said Frontex would launch two rapid border operations both on the land and sea border, that will...