Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will participate in today’s EU Summit attempting to persuade the other member states not to turn Greece into a warehouse of thousands of refugees and immigrants, while the odds are stacked against him.

The draft conclusions expected to be signed by EU leaders mention that Europe will seal its borders with Greece: ‘Irregular flows of migrants along the Western Balkans route are coming to an end; this route is now closed’.

The draft also pledges that the EU will “stand by Greece in this difficult moment and will do its utmost to help manage the situation”.

“This is a collective EU responsibility requiring fast and efficient mobilisation,” it adds.

It statement says that aid to Greece should center on “urgent humanitarian aid as well as managing its borders and making sure that migrants not in need of international protections are quickly returned to Turkey”.

Mr. Tsipras will try to convey to European leaders Athens’ cry of help asking his partners to share the burden of refugee, to keep the borders opened and demonstrate solidarity. Moreover, Mr. Tsipras will ask for EU to intervene so as to put an end to refugee flow from Turkey with the contribution of NATO operations.

However, it seems that Europe is moving towards the opposite direction and Brussels will ratify informally what has already been decided: turning Greece into a vast hotspot. Most countries are reluctant to participate in the refugee resettlement program forcing Greece to lift the burden of refugee.

Indicative of the situation created is the fact that Mr. Tsipras was not even invited to a dinner meeting held on Sunday in Brussels among German Chancellor Merkel Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte .

Mr. Tsipras on Monday will have a series of contacts in Brussels ahead of the EU summit later in the day.
At 9.15 am he will meet the Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, at 10.00 am. At 10.30 am he will meet his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu and at 11.00 the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

A meeting of the EU member states has been scheduled around 15.00 (local time), following the EU-Turkey meeting.