The European Union is proposing a new aid program worth an initial 700 Million Euros - more than AU$1 Billion - for Greece to handle the migrant and refugee crisis on the continent's southern frontier.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he is "really worried" about the "huge humanitarian crisis in Greece" caused by the build-up of migrants and asylum seekers in Greece.  This facet of the larger migration crisis began because Macedonia and other Balkan countries enacted stricter border controls while northern countries started limiting how many refugees would be allowed in. 

"No time can be lost in deploying all means possible to prevent humanitarian suffering within our own borders," said EU humanitarian aid commissioner Christos Stylianides. 

The plan still needs to be approved by the EU parliament.  When that happens, it will mark the first time the EU distributed aid within the bloc, rather than to outside, usually-developing nations.  It will not divert funds from the EU's 1.1 Billion Euro annual funding for the world's poorest, which is part of the EU's strategy to deter people from making dangerous journeys to Europe.  Thousands have drowned in the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas, victims of cruel and inept smuggling operations that cram scores or even hundreds of would-be refugees from the Middle east, South Asia, and Africa onto derelict boats that can't hack the journey to Greece, Italy, or Spain.