Migrant crisis: Greece 'overwhelmed' by arrivals

Europe's most senior official for migration has told the BBC that Greece is "overwhelmed" by new arrivals and that the whole world must react. At least 2,000 new migrants are registered in Greece every day.

But more than 10,000 are stranded on the northern border with Macedonia, as EU countries have re-imposed internal border controls. Dimitris Avromopoulos, the European Commissioner for Migration, said other states needed to support Greece.

More camps are being set up near the Macedonian border to cope with the influx

 "Greece is overrun, is overwhelmed by all these flows," Mr Avromopoulos, who is Greek, told the BBC. "We have to mobilise the whole European Union...we must see this situation as a global issue rather than a regional one."

Earlier this week, EU officials announced an aid plan that would allocate €300m (£233m; $325m) this year to help any EU state deal with the migration crisis. In all, €700m would be made available over three years.

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More than 125,000 people have arrived on Greek shores so far this year, close to 12 times more than arrived in the first three months of 2015. Most are fleeing conflict in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan and have travelled from Turkey.

Eight countries in the 26-nation passport-free Schengen area have imposed restrictions on their borders, leading to a build-up further south in Greece.

And EU countries who approved a plan to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers from Greece, Italy and Hungary have been slow to do so, with some filing a lawsuit against the plan.