Europe's migration crisis is firstling
towards a potentially defining turning
point this month German Chancellor
Angela Merkel is facing the first
electoral test of her refugee policy
just as the pillars of the EU response
come under sustained assault EU leaders
are preparing for an emergency migration
summit on Monday against a grim backdrop
desperate seems at the Greece Macedonia
border where crowds of migrants are
being beaten back from storming a sense
with salvos of tear gas four crucial
components of Europe's migration
response are at stake
merkel is beset on all sides
domestically and isolated abroad her
personal popularity still remains
relatively high but the arrival at 1.1
million refugees in germany has dented
her command of german politics her CDU
party is bracing itself for a poor
showing in three state elections
scheduled for march 13 that have turned
into a referendum on the Chancellor's
refugee strategy she insists there is no
plan B but if to use summits this month
fail to deliver results a stricter
approach may be inevitable
Turkey is the centerpiece of the --use
migration strategy yet a three months
after an eu-turkey deal to cut migrant
flows more than 2,000 people per day are
still making the Aegean crossing there
is now deadlock and crew will not act
more decisively until the EU starts
taking in refugees directly from Turkey
and the EU wants numbers dramatically
down before it will consider
resettlement diplomats are in despair
that one hard fact remains
neither Berlin nor Athens can cope
either politically or practically with
another 1 million arrivals in 2016
up to 70
and refugees are forecast to be stuck in
Greece in coming weeks there are serious
concerns of a humanitarian crisis
miss Merkel is worried Greece is in a
fragile state politically and
economically we didn't keep Greece in
the euro only to then leave it in the
lurch she said on Sunday
the eaves flagship policy of relocating
refugees from Italy in Greece has
resulted in roughly 600 people out of a
proposed 160,000 actually moving were
still countries are beginning to act
alone to tighten borders ignoring
objections from Berlin and Brussels EU
officials are frantically searching for
ways to revive a common refugee policy
but it faces huge political obstacles
one eurozone minister told us were close
to our worst nightmare a negative spiral
of closed borders and independent
policies I don't want to go there but we
don't have long Alex Barca Financial
Times Brussels