The Prime Minister of Greece announced on Monday that his government would “not be accepting any new asylum applications for 1 month.” The move comes in response to a decision by Turkey over the weekend to openly allow refugees to cross the border into Europe. The Turkish government claims it is overwhelmed with asylum-seekers, and the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis accused Turkey of using “desperate people to promote its geopolitical agenda.” Greece has deployed its military to the border and vows to maximize its deterrence of illegal entry.

Asylum procedures in the EU are governed by Article 78 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU). The measures the Greek government has taken to turn back all asylum seekers violate those laws, but the Prime Minister said he would invoke Article 78(3) of the TFEU, which allows the European Council to adopt provisional measures in situations where an influx of people constitutes and emergency.

President of the European Council Charles Michel traveled to Greece Tuesday to visit the border and to discuss and address these issues. Remarks he issued following the visit stressed that “the Greek borders are the European borders.” Michel noted the need for EU institutions and the Greek government to work together in addressing the crisis and thanked Greece for its efforts. He affirmed the EU’s commitment to their 2016 agreement with Turkey, under which the Turkish government was supposed to take efforts to prevent irregular migration across its borders with the EU. An EU representative was in Turkey on Tuesday, Michel said, to communicate about upholding the agreement.