The time has passed, and will not likely return, when because of her handling of the refugee crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was recognised for saving humanitarian values in Europe. Due to the situation with US President Donald Trump, the moral leadership of the West passed into her hands.
Today, however, the situation is very different. Bound by her right-wing allies in the coalition government, and by the fear that the reception of refuges and migrants will bolster the extreme right, the chancellor is seeking ways to rid herself of the problem. One way to do that was to conclude agreements with Spain and Greece.
The Spanish prime minister had the courage to tell parliament that he concluded the agreement in expectation of economic assistance. He did not hide the truth, and informed citizens.
The SYRIZA-Independent Greeks government did the opposite. It is attempting to conceal the obvious, which is that the helping hand he extended to the Chancellor was not due to humanitarianism, but rather to political and economic considerations.
It may be that there was no other choice for a government that before it assumed power was peddling humanitarianism like a commercial product. It is engaging in the same commercial view of migration today. It is taking in refugees in return for the debt relief package and the freezing of a VAT tax increase on five Aegean islands that have borne the brunt of the refugee crisis.
The Chancellor has now lost the moral leadership. The SYRIZA-Independent Greece government has lost the last bits of it moral attraction.
