Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will be in Brussels tomorrow to attend the two-day EU-Turkey, one of the most critical EU summits in recent years as Europe is sharply divided over the refugee crisis and the Schengen Agreement has nearly collapsed, threatening with collapse the entire European integration project.
While in Brussels, the Greek PM will meet on Thursday morning with Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoğlu and then attend the EU-Turkey. Later in the day, Mr Tsipras will meet with British PM David Cameron, just prior to the start of the European Council meeting.
The Greek PM spoke today by phone with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who chairs the Council of the European Union, while this afternoon he is expected to have telephone chats with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders.
According to some sources, a meeting between the Greek PM and the German Chancellor may also take place prior to the start of the Summit.
The upcoming EU summit may produce some unwelcome developments for Greece on account of the possible U-turn that Angela Merkel may make on the refugee crisis after the resounding defeat of her conservative in three German regional elections on Sunday.
German voters gave a thumps-down on Merkel’s open-door refugee policy and flocked to the arms of the anti-immigrant party Alternative for Germany.
“These results are a serious rebuke for Merkel and the most pronounced protest vote we’ve seen so far,” said Holger Schmieding, an analyst at Berenberg Bank.
With campaign slogans such as “Secure the borders” and “Stop the asylum chaos,” it was the first time the AfD had come as high as second in any state.
“We have fundamental problems in Germany that led to this election result,” said AfD chief Frauke Petry.
These developments in Germany spell serious problems for Greece as the country may find itself now with no allies in its efforts to tackle the migrant crisis, leading to a situation where thousands of migrants end up permanently stranded in Greece.
An additional headache for the Greek government may stem from the possible decision on the part of the Cypriot president Anastasiades not to concede to Ankara’s demands that talks regarding Turkey’s membership to the EU be re-energized as part of an agreement to help Europe halt the flow of migrants to the continent.
Without Turkey’s assistance in resolving Europe’s migrant crisis, Greece could become a permanent home for as many as 100,000 refugees and migrants.
The EU-Turkey migrant deportation deal may also collapse if French president Hollande maintains his opposition to accepting a free-visa regime for Turks.
In sum, the outcome of the upcoming two-day EU summit is anyone’s guess, but those who stand to lose the most from a failed deal will be Greece and the refugees themselves.
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