EU Leaders to Meet with Turkey to Discuss Refugee Crisis

Croatian Prime Minister among EU leaders in meeting on migrant crisis in Turkey.

EU leaders plan to sign an agreement with Turkey on Sunday in Brussels to offer Ankara money and closer ties with the EU in exchange for Turkey’s help in stopping the wave of migrants. Aware that Europe is desperately seeking solution to the crisis which has torn it apart after the arrival of almost a million people this year, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan expects a lot, and diplomats say that the 28 EU member states spend the whole of Saturday trying to define their final offer, reports Index.hr and Vecernji List on November 29, 2015.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is set to meet with the leaders of the EU, including Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanović, at 4 pm and it is expected that the meeting will last for three hours.

Europeans are under great pressure, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, to find a solution for the largest influx of people since the Second World War, most of whom came to Germany. EU will offer Turkey three billion euros for the next year or two to improve living conditions for the 2.3 million Syrians who are now living in Turkey, in the hope that they will not try to go to Europe. The offer also includes the easing of the visa regime if Turkey slows down the influx of migrants and the possible continuation of the accession negotiations with Ankara.

On Saturday evening, after the meeting of EU envoys in Brussels, diplomats said they have agreed on a joint offer which they hope will get Davutoglu’s signature. The offer should be approved by the governments on Sunday before the summit. However, there is a possibility that Turkey could ask for more, especially after Erdogan’s decision not to attend the meeting himself but to send his prime minister instead. “The Turks always negotiate to the very last second”, said a senior EU diplomat. “Why would this time be any different?”

In the meantime, members of the Macedonian Army yesterday started putting up a metal fence on the southern border with Greece. According to the Macedonian media, the fence is placed on the part of the border where refugees usually pass on their way to Western Europe. The fence is similar to the one Hungary has raised on its borders with Serbia and Croatia.

There are reports in the media that the interior ministers of countries in the region will soon sign an agreement on joint repatriation of migrants to the countries from which they came. It would be a kind of joint operation in response to the migrant crisis. The country to which the people who cannot obtain refugee status would be returned is Turkey, where there is still about 2.5 million refugees. Estimates say that about 10 million people are getting ready to start moving towards to the EU. This figure includes about 2.5 million people in Turkey, and approximately 8 million people in Africa and the Middle East.

 

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