By Nikos Bellos
Greek sources referred to an “optimistic mood” that a positive agreement between the EU and Turkey will be achieved on Thursday, speaking in Brussels after a meeting between Greek Prime minister Alexis Tsipras, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande.
The trio of leaders met before an all-important EU-Turkey summit.
The meeting lasted 45 minutes, with the main conclusion, according to sources, being that significant steps were taken for a “good, functional and effective” EU-Turkey agreement to deal with the ongoing refugee crisis, among others.
Athens will reportedly be allocated “sufficient time” to implement the agreement, while asylum service personnel from European organizations will be sent to Greece for support. All of the procedures to be followed, reports state, will be compatible with international law and the Geneva treaty.
All three sides emphasized that a primary priority is for the agreement to be implemented, which mean a reduction in the flow of migrants from Turkey to the EU.
Along those lines, Tsipras called for pressure on the Ankara government to reduce flows; to implement an EU-Turkey readmission protocol, which was updated last week in Izmir, and to accelerate the relocation of refugees now stranded in Greece to other European countries, as well as a reliable system to evacuate war refugees from Turkey.
He also requested humanitarian assistance to Greece to deal with the crisis.
