Greece and Turkey are planning a series of high-level bilateral meetings to discuss tackling the ongoing migrant influx.
The trilateral talks between Greece, Turkey and Germany are likely to be called off, after German Chancellor Angela Merkel has come under pressure by the country’s parliamentary opposition to harden her line on immigration.
Merkel is under fire after the violence and sexual assaults instigated by migrant groups in the city of Cologne on New Year’s Eve. Also, the German Chancellor is pressured by her party after Ankara’s apparent lack of action to curb the number of migrants crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey.
“The numbers are still way too high in Greece, between 2,000-3,000 people [arriving] every day,” European Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans said in Ankara on Monday. “We cannot be satisfied at this stage,” he said.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is planning to meet with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2016 in Davos, Switzerland (January 21-24).
Also, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will visit Athens on February 3-5 for a meeting with his Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias. The two Prime Ministers are expected to exchange visits later in the same month.
Another meeting between the neighboring countries will take place in early March, in the context of the Greek-Turkish High-Level Cooperation Council.
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