On an educative note
Here's a little educative background information with regard to another member state, Denmark, that has expressed equal concerns with regard to control of borders and sovereignty.
Back in December 2016 the following article appeared
https://euobserver.com/justice/136200
“A referendum in Denmark was held in December last year because Europol's legal status is changing on 1 May 2017.
A majority - 53.1 percent against 46.9 percent - refused to join EU justice and home affairs policies, despite an overall positive attitude towards Europol.
Denmark opted out of large parts of EU policy when ratifying the Maastricht treaty 22 years ago.
In Dec 2015 it was reported ( https://euobserver.com/beyond-brussels/131380)
"The result opens a completely new agenda in Europe, an agenda of less EU. For the first time, we can have a debate about the possibility of returning sovereignty to member states from the EU," Soeren Espersen, the eurosceptic Danish People's Party's foreign affairs spokesperson, told EUobserver.
"I will recommend Loekke [Danish PM] to contact British PM David Cameron already tomorrow morning and initiate co-operation between a larger group of EU countries that share this agenda of less EU," said Danish MEP Morten Messerschmidt, from the Danish People's Party, which sits with the Tories in the European Parliament.
So now Denmark is set to agree with the European Commission to some sort of a third country status. The deal will also need approval from EU justice ministers and a non-binding consultation from the European parliament.
Kristian Thulesen Dahl, leader of the Danish People's Party - which led last year's No campaign said his party would have to scrutinise the text closely, particularly regarding Denmark's relations with the Schengen free-border area, before it could approve the deal.
The party insists on PERMANENT border controls, but the new Europol deal requires full acceptance of Schengen rules, where only TEMPORARY controls are allowed.”....
Doesn't all of the above demonstrate that it is not just the UK who want control over its borders and wish to regain sovereignty and that the Commission are having to “ react “ to such calls for regaining control? Isn't this an example of using a sticking plaster to resolve underlying concerns instead of recognising growing citizen discontent with EU policy makers ( i.e. the Commission)?
As for Greece….. Debt relief has been a contentious issue for creditors, with the International Monetary Fund and Germany lining up on opposite sides. The I.M.F. has insisted that Greece cannot meet its budget goals without easing its debts, while Germany remains skeptical of cutting Athens more slack.
To date they have reached a compromise, of sorts. Greece’s creditors committed to debt relief, although not until 2018 at the earliest, provided the country continues to carry out painful changes.
The trouble however has been that policies forced upon the Greek citizens has meant that
“The money was supposed to buy Greece time to stabilize its finances and quell market fears that the euro union itself could break up. While it has helped, Greece’s economic problems have not gone away. The economy has shrunk by a quarter in five years, and unemployment is about 25 percent.
The bailout money mainly goes toward paying off Greece’s international loans, rather than making its way into the economy. And the government still has a staggering debt load that it cannot begin to pay down unless a recovery takes hold.”...
“This tension has grown only more acute since the January 1999 introduction of the euro, which binds 19 nations into a single currency zone watched over by the European Central Bank but leaves budget and tax policy in the hands of each country, an arrangement that some economists believe was doomed from the start.”
This latest article ( today)
https://euobserver.com/political/137362
highlights that Poland and Greece are talking tough before the Rome summit.
“The eurocrisis has exposed a divide between the richer northern countries and the poorer southern states, who are in need of financial help. The migration crisis has opened a rift between western and eastern member states, which are reluctant to take in refugees.”
By comparison and with regard to the UK the following was reported by one of the main currency trading companies yesterday.....
“UK Retail Sales
There has been a surge in the value of sterling against the EURO following the announcement of better than expected UK retail sales in February, which rose 1.4% against a forecast 0.4%. This is a much more positive outcome than the 0.5% decline at the start of the year and signals consumer confidence is increasing despite higher levels of inflation. These new results have pushed the annual rate of retail growth to 3.7% from 1% in January and caused sterling to rebound as analysts have been predicting.”
Here's hoping mutually acceptable deals can be achieved for all concerned.