German support for Athens, in the face of Turkish aggressiveness, is clear and a given, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Alexis Tsipras during a meeting on the sidelines of today’s EU summit.

At the four-way meeting, which included European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, Merkel and Tsipras’ other interlocutors underlined that EU-Turkey cooperation has been effective.

While they said that it is necessary not to have tensions in the Aegean, it is clear that stemming the migration flow is a much more pressing issue for Greece’s EU partners. Juncker and Borisov both underlined the need to protect the good level of cooperation with Turkey.

It was agreed that cooperation in grappling with migration flows should be intensified.

To that end, Berlin and the EU will offer support in developing material and technical infrastructure, and they will provide expert personnel, for border management.

For its part, the Commission will work towards expediting procedures for processing asylum applications.

in.gr

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