Well, there's at least one obvious motive: getting the EU a little more busy with itself so it may not have enough energy for other matters. The mess it plunge

Well, there's at least one obvious motive: getting the EU a little more busy with itself so it may not have enough energy for other matters. The mess it plunges the EU, having to deal with this one huge internal issue, rather than having more resources on other external topics (such as, what's happening on the border region with Russia, with the Middle East and with Africa).