European ministers have to be proactive to prevent human smugglers coming up with new ways to bring people into the European Union, Dutch junior immigration minister Klaas Dijkhoff said in Brussels on Thursday.

The minister was in Belgium to discuss the refugee crisis with other EU ministers following the tentative deal with Turkey and the closure of the border with Macedonia.

In particular, the ministers said Greece needs urgent support to deal with the large number of refugees who are now being held at the border. As many as 10,000 people are said to be waiting at Idomeni to cross into the Balkans.

Tineke Ceelen, director of Dutch aid group Stichting Vluchteling, said on Thursday that the situation at the border is terrible and that women and children are sleeping in wet tents and mud after heavy rain.

‘This is the most shameful thing I have seen in years,’ Ceelen told news website nu.nl. ‘These are African conditions in Europe. All the tents are flooded and every child you pick up is soaking. One woman, about to give birth, is lying in a wet tent.’