By Nikos Bellos
The Greek prime minister is expected to press European partners for a commitment to relocate the tens of thousands of Mideast war refugees that have congregated in Greece over the recent period, amid widespread reports that the EU will shut down the so-called “Balkan corridor” as soon as possible.
The specific land route has been used by hundreds of thousands of refugees, but also irregular migrants, to reach the rest of Europe.
Alexis Tsipras travels to Brussels on Monday for a closely watched EU-Turkey summit, with the refugee crisis now dominating the Union’s attention.
Beyond the standing protests by Athens against “unilateral decisions”, the route through the western Balkans – including through countries that are not EU members – is expected to be blocked, with coordinated alternatives now sought.
Athens also wants the Union to send a clear message to would-be asylum seekers not to cross the eastern Aegean from Turkey to various Greek isles, given that the land route is now closed or closing. The prospect comes amid reports that Berlin has reservations over the closing of borders in SE Europe to war refugees.
The leftist Greek government is also apparently willing to press for the return of illegal migrants back to Turkey, from which they embarked for EU territory, mostly the Greek islands. Finally, Athens will, as expected, request financial assistance to deal with the crisis.
In a more-or-less related development, government sources claimed that the refugee crisis is not being linked to the still pending review of the Greek program. The latter will be discussed at Monday’s Eurogroup meeting.
