The delegation is made up of Bert Koenders, the Foreign Minister of Holland and representative of the country currently holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union; Harlem Désir, France’s Deputy Minister for European Affairs; Miroslav Lajčák, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia; Sandro Gozi, Italy’s Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister for European Affairs; Margarida Marques, the Portuguese Deputy Foreign Minister for European Affairs; Ian Borg, Deputy Minister at Malta’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responsible for preparation for Malta’s 2017 Presidency of the Council of the EU and for management of EU funds.
On Saturday, a meeting has been scheduled at the ministry of Foreign Affairs with a delegation of the Greek government to which Alternate Foreign Minister for European Affairs, Nikos Xydakis, the Minister of Shipping and Island Policy, Thodoris Dritsas, the Alternate Minister for Migration Policy, Ioannis Mouzalas, and the Secretary General of the Defence Ministry, Ioannis Tafylis will participate.
Greek government’s plan is to present where it stands regarding the implementation of the of the decisions of the European Council, the practices and operational difficulties being met and the solutions proposed for dealing with them, as well as the needs of the assistance agreed upon by the EU and the member states. A joint press conference will follow.
The ministers and deputy ministers will also meet with Frontex teams, people working under the European Asylum Support Office and the Greek Asylum Office. They will also visit refugee camps in Attica and meet with representatives of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and several international organizations.
On Saturday, the European officials will visit also Turkey where they will meet with the minister of Foreign Affairs, Mevlut Cavusoglu, in order to discuss about Turkey’s efforts to curb illegal migration’ flows as agreed at the recent EU-Turkey summit.