Danish PM suggests patience to avoid hard Brexit

Visiting Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen on Thursday called for patience to avoid a hard Brexit and stronger cooperation among EU member states to address the migration issue.

"We would be as patient as possible, because we should try to avoid a hard Brexit," he said during joint statements with his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras after their meeting, according to Greek national broadcaster ERT.

"We should make efforts up to the last minute to avoid a no-deal Brexit," Tsipras noted.

The two leaders exchanged views on bilateral, European and international current affairs, focusing on the management of the refugee-migration challenge, they said.

"We are in a totally different place now compared to 2015, but we still have problems we need to deal with and this will stay with us for decades. We have to find a way forward and work together," Rasmussen said.

The Danish PM called for more development aid to countries of migrants' origin, among others, to put an end to illegal migration flows.

Solidarity comes in many forms and Denmark has demonstrated solidarity by providing more than 200 million euros (224.4 million U.S. dollars) humanitarian and development assistance to five countries last year and by participating in the European border patrol agency's (FRONTEX) mission in Greece, Rasmussen said.

"We agreed that what is needed is a coherent European approach to effectively deal with the issue," the Greek leader added.

Greece received more than one million refugees and migrants since 2015 and continues to receive migratory flows. Emphasis should be given to promoting cooperation with countries outside the EU in the field of readmission, Tsipras said.

Regarding economic and social convergence in the EU, the Greek Prime Minister praised Denmark's welfare system.

"We believe that all European countries should converge upwards to a level of social benefits, to a welfare model which will be protecting the majority of citizens," he said.