EU tries for new Turkey strategy to stem refugee flow

The FT says: “In return, Turkey pledges strengthen its border controls – including greater co-operation with Greece, which has seen a massive influx of refugees from the region”.

“If we are not able to find humanitarian and efficient solutions then others will find solutions which are inhuman, nationalistic and, for sure, not European”, EU President Donald Tusk said at a news conference after the meeting.

The aid will be used to bolster Turkey’s borders, improve refugees’ living conditions in Turkey and provide incentives for them to stay there. The plan could spur progress toward a “road map” for dropping EU’s visa requirement for Turks, the leaders said in a statement after the summit.

The meeting came as the global Organisation for Migration said that more than 600,000 people had arrived by sea into Europe this year and more than 3000 of them died trying to reach Europe to escape war or poverty.

Senior Turkish and European Commission officials who talked late into the night in Ankara were “close to finalising” a cooperation agreement largely along the lines of a Commission draft published last week, officials involved in the talks said.

But European Union proposals still require a “responsible and adequate response from the Turkish side”, he said.

A wooden boat carrying dozens of migrants from Turkey to Europe sank near the island of Lesbos after colliding with a Greek coastguard vessel, leaving at least seven people dead, including four children, rescuers said.

“Obviously, this has implications for a few other countries and that will be a source of discussion”, Mr Kenny said on his way into a summit, adding that there were “very significant numbers of people, refugees, in Turkey”.

“We still must clarify the timelines, what should happen, when, how reliable our promises of support are, how reliable Turkey’s promises of regulation are”, she said early Friday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the EU Summit in Brussels.

“We have agreed with our Turkish partners that the visa liberalisation process will be accelerated but this does not mean that we will step away from the basic criteria”.

“We agreed tonight on exact content of the joint EU-Turkey Action Plan on the refugee crisis”.

The prospect of easier access to European Union visas is unlikely to entice a reluctant Turkish Government to better manage its own refugee emergency.

Turkey has also called for the establishment of an worldwide “safe zone” for refugees inside northern Syria – but Mr Tusk said Russia’s involvement in Syria made the idea more hard.

European Union leaders agreed to work on an integrated border management system that will go beyond the Frontex mandate.

French President Francois Hollande insisted that any relaxation in visa rules or Turkey’s accession talks has to meet certain conditions.