Barring any emergency meeting of heads of state and government, Nickel thought interior ministers may come closer to a deal at their next meeting on October 8. Whether an agreement can be found that placates the former-Communist bloc in eastern Europe remains to be seen, however.  These "recalcitrant Europeans," according to Ian Bremmer, president of political risk research firm Eurasia Group, will drive a hard bargain.  "The strongest opposition has come from eastern Europe…they have strong domestic resistance to accepting refugees, and see political benefits in taking a hard line against Germany. which means they'll try and exact a pound of flesh on other issues…It won't be pretty," he warned in a note Monday.  Europe was less united than ever, and once again, as with the Greek financial crisis, it was cobbling together a short-term plan to deal with an "expanding" crisis, Bremmer added.  "It's very much like the Greece (third bailout) deal - nothing more than a last minute, short-term patch that doesn't resolve an expanding challenge. As an actor on the international stage, 'Europe' has less cohesive norms, values, and governance than at any time since the union was created," he said.  On Tuesday, Standard & Poor's (S&P) said that political uncertainty stemming from the refugee crisis was the biggest risk to credit ratings for EU countries at present.  "An elusive compromise could indicate that the EU still has governance problems, which we consider a key factor when rating sovereigns," Moritz Kraemer, primary credit analyst at S&P said in a report on Tuesday.  "If mishandled, Europe's approach to solving the refugee influx may lead to increased populism and xenophobia, diverting attention from budgetary and structural reforms."
A raft of European Union countries have unilaterally re-imposed border checks and the region's justice ministers failed to agree on a plan.