Migrant deal struck as Greece, Germany, Spain agree on returns

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the trilateral agreement on
Friday for the return of migrants and refugees from Germany
to Greece and Spain will not burden the country and will also
expedite the reunification of split families.
The deal’s main aim, he said, is to minimize the flow of the
so-called secondary movement of migrants and refugees from
point-of-entry countries – like Greece and Spain – to
Germany.
He said, moreover, that the deal was not linked to the
acceptance – on the sidelines of the summit of European
Union leaders in Brussels – of the Greek request for a
suspension of the planned VAT hikes on five islands of the
eastern Aegean which have borne the brunt of the crisis.
New Democracy welcomed the VAT hike suspension, saying
however that this had always been a conservative proposal.
When the government follows ND’s cue, it said, positive things
happen for the country.
With critics arguing that the deal could burden Greece with
higher numbers of asylum applicants, Tsipras said he is
confident that this will not be the case as, he claimed, that
current flows to Germany are limited, due to the presence of
Frontex on the northern border, to 100-150 people per month.
Furthermore, the text of the trilateral deal said that “Germany
will gradually accept and conclude the family reunification
cases in Greece and Spain with a view to guaranteeing family
unity.”
Tsipras said that Germany will unblock 2,900 family
reunifications from Greece.
However, given the unbending stance of several countries with
regard to burden sharing and the emphasis placed on
secondary movements, it is widely believed that flows to the
islands of the eastern Aegean will rise and that more migrants
will be stranded in Greece.
Under the specifics of the deal, Tsipras noted that Germany
and Spain are committed to backing the review of the Dublin
Agreement within 2018, and promoting EU initiatives to help
Greece in the event of a new migration crisis and to assist the
five eastern Aegean islands financially.
Referring to the sharp divisions at the EU summit, Tsipras said
the bloc is split between countries with a chauvinistic
approach on the matter and those, like Greece, with a more
humane attitude.