EU's Juncker spoke on phone with Croatian PM, offered assistance to Croatia - statement

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels, Belgium September 17, 2015. REUTERS/Yves Herman

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker offered Croatia technical and logistical assistance for coping with the flood of migrants crossing its border ahead of an extraordinary summit on migration on Wednesday, the Commission said in a statement. Since Wednesday morning more than 17,000 migrants have flooded into Croatia as they flee war and poverty in the Middle East, as the European Union struggles to find a solution to the biggest wave of migration since World War Two. In a statement on Friday, the Commission Juncker and Croatian PM Zora Milanovic stressed the need to strengthen the protection of the EU's external border, to step up EU assistance in its immediate neighbourhood and to make progress on how to share the burden between member states. (Reporting by Julia Fioretti; Editing by Alison Williams)