We’re going to put this blog on pause now. You can read our latest wrap from the summit here. Thanks for reading.
The €20bn that Reuters reported earlier that Turkey was asking for appears to have been a mistake. Reuters is now reporting that the parties have agreed on an extra €3bn.
On Turks apparently asking for 20bn euros -- Turkish ambo Selim Yenel tells me it is "totally ludicrous". Think it came from an AFAD stat
— Alex Barker (@alexebarker) March 7, 2016
Updated
The key elements of that draft statement, seen by Reuters are:
- Turkey to readmit all “irregular”migrants crossing into Greek islands from Turkey;
- For every Syrian readmitted by Turkey from the Greek islands, one Syrian refugee will be resettled from Turkey to the EU member states;
- The EU will completely evacuate refugees from the Greek islands, readmitting only those who crossed into the islands after a date to be determined;
- The EU will accelerate the lifting of visa requirements for Turkish citizens in the Schengen zone, so that this takes place, at the latest, by the end of June 2016;
- The EU and Turkey will cooperate in any joint endeavours to establish humanitarian safe areas inside Syria;
- The EU will provide Turkey with an extra 3bn Euros (on top of the 3bn Euros already made available) to help Turkey deal with Syrian refugees through to the end of 2018.
According to Reuters, the statement also makes reference to steps in the process of negotiating Turkish accession to the European Union.
EU would give Turkey extra €3bn – draft statement
The EU will give Turkey the €3bn it has requested to help it shelter Syrians, according to a draft statement seen by Reuters.
A draft statement prepared during an EU-Turkey summit listed actions that both sides could take to end the migration crisis.
Among these, were a proposal that Turkey would take back all irregular migrants from Greek islands, including Syrians, while the EU would then admit directly from Turkey one Syrian refugee for every Syrian readmitted to Turkey from the Greek islands.
The EU would offer a further 3 billion euros until the end of 2018 to help Turkey shelter Syrians, doubling the amount of an earlier offer. And it would ease visa requirements for Turks wishing to visit Europe’s Schengen area by the end of June, earlier than had been planned.
Updated
Turkey requests extra €3bn from EU
The European Parliament president, Martin Schulz, talking about the meeting of the EU leaders with Turkey, has confirmed that Turkey has requested an extra 3bn Euros from the EU
Press conference now on #EUCO meeting with #Turkey https://t.co/qlj1vVjq9K
— EP President (@EP_President) March 7, 2016
Updated
The Syria Campaign (TSC), an independent group focusing on the protection of civilians in the war-torn country, says politicians in Brussels must deal with the root cause of the crisis:
James Sadri of TSC said:
World leaders have done nothing to stop the killing machine in Syria. Most Syrian refugees in Europe are fleeing from the bombs and brutality of the Assad regime, not from Isis or other extremist groups.
European politicians should be rolling out the red carpet to these vulnerable people, instead they’re rolling out the barbed wire.
It’s a deep source of shame that Europe can mobilise military ships to block those who are fleeing war and poverty, but can’t lift a finger to stop the Assad regime’s violence that is the leading cause of this exodus.
If European leaders want to resolve the Syrian refugee crisis they must work seriously to find a solution to the root cause.
If the fragile Syrian ceasefire collapses, Europe must lead the effort to establish genuine safe zones in Syria.
Updated
The prime minister of Greece has met his Turkish counterpart.
Mtg w/PM @Ahmet_Davutoglu. We have the opportunity to show we're facing the issues in our neighborhd #EUTurkey #EUCO pic.twitter.com/UTyNewREmh
— Alexis Tsipras (@tsipras_eu) March 7, 2016
EU leaders are now chewing over Davutoglu’s new proposals until dinner time in Brussels. I’m now handing live blog duties over to my colleague Haroon Siddique.
Turkey seeking '€20bn' more in aid - Reuters
Turkey is set to offer to take back all non-Syrian migrants who have been denied asylum in Europe, as well as all the people who are picked up in the boats while they are in its territorial waters, but PM Davutoglu has told leaders he wants more from them too.
More from the Reuters report:
Diplomats said that at a preparatory meeting with German chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte on Sunday night, Davutoglu demanded more than the €3bn earmarked so far to support Syrian refugees in Turkey.
One source said Ankara was seeking €20bn.
Turkey also wants visa-free travel in the EU from June, instead of waiting for a planned October review of preparatory measures.
One EU diplomat said Berlin and some allies were open to bringing forward the date if Ankara met all the requirements including changing its visa policy for Islamic states and introducing biometric passports.
EU leaders voiced concern and unease that the offer of increased cooperation coincided with a crackdown on media freedom that runs counter to cherished European values.
“It’s going to be a proper Turkish bazaar - first we will throw our hands up in the air expressing shock about Turkey’s demands.
“Then we’ll offer to meet a tiny, tiny, tiny part of what they want. And then we’ll see how the bargaining goes from there,” said one EU diplomat.
The new sparring ground has quickly turned what was hoped to be a straightforward summit, primed by Donald Tusk’s visit to Ankara last week, into yet another battle of nerves, with Turkey clearly seeing an opportunity to push for far more than they had been initially promised by Tusk.
Turkey may well get more funding and an easing of visa restrictions, but it is the acceleration of EU accession which is likely to be a sticking point.
The FT’s Alex Barker says he understands the seizure of Turkey’s largest newspaper was also raised over lunch.
Accession chapters still the main sticking point on the Turkey-EU deal. Cyprus unhappy. Zaman issue was also raised over lunch
— Alex Barker (@alexebarker) March 7, 2016
Updated
Confused by what we mean by the Western Balkan route? This should go some way to explain. Countries in blue show the countries which are routes to northern Europe, and the yellow shows where the borders are closed off.
Tensions are high among the more than 13,000 migrants who are stranded at the Greek-Macedonian border as they await a decision.
Living conditions are deteriorating and supplies of food and water are limited at the camp in Idomeni, with the route ahead potentially shut for good.
As the leaders go into the talks, AFP’s Danny Kemp reports that the Turkish prime minister is not just demanding a better offer from Brussels, but is also “offering more”.
The Turks 'are offering more, they are demanding more... It's more ambitious on all aspects', European source tells @AFP
— Danny Kemp (@dannyctkemp) March 7, 2016
Updated
The EU leaders have finished their working lunch and next up is the moment many will dread - the so-called “family photo”.
After that, EU28 begin the serious negotiations with Turkey’s Davutoglu, with a communique expected to be agreed after dinner.
Lunch is over. Now family photo. Then EU28 meeting on migration crisis
— Preben Aamann (@PrebenEUspox) March 7, 2016
Updated
Turkey proposing 'several new elements' at EU summit
A spokesman for Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu has confirmed what was hinted at earlier: Turkey is planning to present EU leaders with new proposals that go beyond any previous offers from Ankara, though he would not say what those were.
“We are presenting a new idea today to seriously tackle and solve this problem,” he told reporters. “This proposal involves several new elements.”
Davutoglu is now expected to push for more funding for infrastructure, health and education refugee aid projects, as well as an easing of visa restrictions and more progress on Turkey’s path to EU accession.
Updated
Apart from German tussles over border closures and new Turkish demands for travel visa easing, here’s what’s on the menu in Brussels today.
Breaking: the turkish summit lunch menu -- carrot flan? ewww pic.twitter.com/RMoi4NVarR
— Tara Palmeri (@tarapalmeri) March 7, 2016
All they seem to have been given so far is a bread roll, however – perhaps the food is being held back until certain agreements are reached.
.@JunckerEU @eucopresident #EUCO working lunch w/ @Ahmet_Davutoglu: working in partnership to tackle #RefugeeCrisis pic.twitter.com/EdBOCEzuRm
— Mina Andreeva (@Mina_Andreeva) March 7, 2016
Updated
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been speaking just now, saying he hoped his country would receive the cold hard cash - all €3bn of it - which it was promised by the end of the summit today.
“We already spent $10bn for three million people,” he said in broadcast speech.
They promised to give us €3bn, four months have passed since then. The prime minister is in Brussels right now. I hope he returns with that money.
Look, they say on the other side, ‘don’t let refugees come in’. Okay. But it is not us that is sending them. They are coming from the sea and a lot of them are unfortunately dying.
The timing of the summit is awkward for EU leaders, given the outcry over the seizure of Turkey’s largest daily newspaper over the weekend.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said before today’s summit that Turkey must “respect the highest standards when it comes to democracy, rule of law fundamental freedoms starting from the freedom of expression”.
France and Belgium have also pledged to raise the issue with Davutoglu at the summit.
Updated
The Guardian’s migration correspondent Patrick Kingsley sums up the scale of the challenges facing Europe, even a plan is agreed today by EU leaders.
“With that,” said Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, with all the confidence of a magician at a circus, “we will close the western Balkans route.”
It is a hubristic claim – but one that nevertheless reflects the new hardline agenda that much of Europe’s top brass hopes to push through during today’s migration summit between European and Turkish leaders.
As if by magic, Tusk and his allies seek to end the European refugee crisis in two clean movements.
First: by rubber-stamping the closure of the Macedonian-Greek border, where hundreds of thousands of refugees have crossed in the past year in their march northwards towards northern Europe.
Second: by strong-arming Turkey into readmitting most if not all of the asylum-seekers who continue to land on the Greek islands in their thousands every day.
Tusk’s logic is straightforward. If the Macedonian border can be shut, then the crisis can be contained in Greece. And if refugees can be returned to Turkey, then the damage wrought on cash-strapped Greece will in turn become manageable.
Even if Tusk’s plan has obvious moral implications – it risks undermining the 1951 refugee convention, which was one of the seminal human achievements of the post-Holocaust era – one can understand its practical appeal for European politicians.
But as has become familiar throughout this migration crisis, the logic of Europe’s leadership does not acknowledge the reality on the ground.
For a start, Turkey’s compliance is not a foregone conclusion. The Turkish government will be less keen on re-accepting boat people if Europe does not – as a quid pro quo – formally resettle significant numbers of the 2.5 million Syrian refugees currently on Turkish soil.
And even if such a formal resettlement scheme emerges, it may take months before Turkey is logistically able to reaccept the large numbers of asylum-seekers who continue to land on the Greek islands. Turkey must in turn arrange readmission agreements with the countries where those asylum-seekers come from – and this kind of wrangling will take time.
In the interim, increasing numbers of asylum-seekers will continue to reach Greece. If Tusk’s Macedonian plan works, then Greece faces a dystopian nightmare; it will become a cage for hundreds of thousands of foreigners, with the local authorities lacking the resources needed to house or process them.
But that’s only if the Balkans can in fact be hermetically sealed off from Greece.
“With that”, Tusk says, the Balkans can be shut. Yet past experience suggests that it can’t.
In the early 90s, following the collapse of the Albanian dictatorship, at least 250,000 Albanians made the perilous crossing over the mountainous Greek-Albanian border. Aid workers say a few Syrians are beginning to try the same route – 25 years later. Some may reinvigorate the Albanian-Italian maritime smuggling route, which was once a major thoroughfare for asylum-seekers.
Then there’s the Greek-Bulgarian land border, which was still impregnated by around 30,000 people in 2015, despite the construction of a fence along parts of its length.
Finally, some analysts expect a spike in illegal crossings of the Black Sea from northern Turkey towards Ukraine and the eastern Balkans. Where there is a wall, there is usually a way of getting round it.
Updated
Press conference postponed until dinnertime in Brussels
We had expected an afternoon press conference with EU leaders and Turkey’s Davutoglu, but we’re now being told that it has been postponed until after dinner.
Davutoglu is meeting the EU28 leaders now, who will then discuss Turkey’s additional demands.
A final communique will be agreed over a working dinner – with a press conference afterwards.
Updated
Leaders are settling for the long haul here in Brussels, according to the Guardian’s Jennifer Rankin.
EU-Turkey summit to run into evening: lunch and dinner meetings with Turkish PM #EUCO
— Jennifer Rankin (@JenniferMerode) March 7, 2016
EU-Turkey 'will not be a short summit' says EU official. Davutoglu now giving EU28 Turkey's ideas on migration #refugeecrisis #EUCO
— Jennifer Rankin (@JenniferMerode) March 7, 2016
Brussels lunchtime summary
After a delayed start the working midday meal is underway in Brussels, with rumours now of some last-minute demands from Turkey on the lunch table.
- Turkey is now expected to call for increase on the €3bn in aid which was agreed by the EU. Even that sum is a sticking point – the money was promised but has not yet been delivered, and new aid projects will be part of the discussion.
- Turkey will push for further progress on its bid to join the EU. As he arrived at the summit, Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters “how indispensable the EU is for Turkey and Turkey for the EU”.
- EU leaders are likely to say the country has many conditions it must meet for Turkey’s EU bid to progress. German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Sunday that Berlin had major doubts about whether Turkey should become a member of the EU.
- Davutoglu is also expected to raise access to Schengen visas for Turkish citizens.
- Those demands are in return for allowing the return of non-Syrian migrants to Turkey, if they attempt to cross to Europe.
- An EU draft statement prepared for their talks says the bloc will ensure “comprehensive, large scale and fast-track returns to Turkey of all irregular migrants not in need of international protection”.
- But the new Turkish demands are causing headaches for diplomats, with one comparing the haggling to a “Turkish bazaar”, according to the FT.
Germany is the other key wrinkle in the summit agreement.
- German chancellor Angela Merkel is resisting a push to declare the refugee route across the Balkans “closed”, endorsing the policy of border closures by Austria and Greece’s Balkan neighbours.
- “For all countries, including Greece, closing anything is not an option,” Merkel said as she arrived at the summit.
- Summit chairman Donald Tusk had proposed an EU endorsement of border closures on the route north from Greece, with a draft EU statement saying: “Irregular flows of migrants along the western Balkans route are coming to an end; this route is now closed.”
Updated
Bosnia preparing for migrant route shift
Bosnia’s foreign minister Igor Crnadak has said his country has made preparations to deal with an influx of migrants trying to make their way to northern Europe in case the main Balkan route shifts further south, according to AP.
Crnadak, who has been in talks with his Cypriot counterpart today, said he was aware that an “entirely new route” could open for migrants trying to reach Croatia, an EU member, through Albania, Montenegro and Bosnia, if the route to the north is effectively closed.
Bosnia can help a “certain number” of migrants pass through the country, but “we’re not in a position to even discuss letting some of them stay,” he said. Closing the country’s borders may be considered at some point, but it is not up for discussion yet, he said.
Optimism abounds this morning from the president of Lithuania.
Migrants move faster than we act #EUCO
— Dalia Grybauskaitė (@Grybauskaite_LT) March 7, 2016
We’re already running about half an hour late – the working lunch started about 20 minutes ago, instead of at 11.30am GMT. We’re expecting a statement to press after the leaders finish lunch, before another meeting this afternoon.
Lunch will start at 13h with Turkish PM @Ahmet_Davutoglu #EUCO
— Preben Aamann (@PrebenEUspox) March 7, 2016
You might forgive the prime minister of Luxembourg however, if he was running late, after his tweet this morning about the driving conditions …
#E411 snowy drive to #brussels pic.twitter.com/UpIaFWrMR8
— Bettel Xavier (@Xavier_Bettel) March 7, 2016
Updated
Patrick Kingsley, the Guardian’s migration correspondent, raises some of the key questions about the closure of the Balkans route – and what that entails practically.
If a humanitarian corridor through Macedonia is shut, does that necessarily mean that the Western Balkan route is “closed”?
— Patrick Kingsley (@PatrickKingsley) March 7, 2016
Prior to the creation of that corridor, didn’t thousands make their own way anyway?
— Patrick Kingsley (@PatrickKingsley) March 7, 2016
If 250,000+ people crossed the Greek-Albanian border in the early 1990s, could a similar number not do so again?
— Patrick Kingsley (@PatrickKingsley) March 7, 2016
Updated
While the negotiations continue, the conditions for the 14,000 people at Greece’s border with Macedonia are worsening.
The number of refugees is increasing in Greece after Macedonia, backed by Austria, Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary, limited border crossings to a trickle.
This is the route which European leaders at a summit in Brussels are expected to declare on Monday is now closed.
Updated
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu spoke to reporters as he arrived at the summit meeting, where he said he hoped the agreements would pave the way to begin serious talks on Turkish accession to the EU.
This summit itself shows how indispensable Turkey is for the EU and the EU for Turkey. We have many challenges in front of us. The only way to respond to these challenges is solidarity.
At the end of the day our continent is our continent all together. We have to see the whole picture, not just irregular migration but the whole future of our continent is on the table where we need solidarity between us.”
I am sure these challenges will be solved through our cooperation and Turkey is ready to work with the EU. Turkey is ready to be a member of the EU as well.
Today I hope this summit will not just focus on irregular migration but also the Turkish accession process to the EU.
It will be a success story and a turning point in our relations in a positive way.
Davutoglu, along with Merkel and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, whose country currently holds the European Union presidency, will want some strong coffee at lunch, having spent five hours at a pre-summit meeting last night which lasted until 2.45am, according to Reuters.
Updated
The Guardian’s Berlin correspondent has more on the tussle over the word “closed” in the EU statement, leading to disagreements between Angela Merkel and Jean-Claude Juncker.
Quoting anonymous sources in diplomatic circles, news channel NTV said that the German chancellor and the European Commission president were trying to change the wording of the declaration.
Their argument is that the route is not closed for Syrian and Iraqi refugees and should therefore not be declared as such.
Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament, appeared to support their stance in an interview, saying that “I don’t believe that this is a summit in which doors will be closed. I hope that we can find a sensible and humanitarian solution for refugees who desperately need our protection”.
In German political circles, more and more people expect that the three billion euros per year offered to Turkey is less of a final sum than an opening gambit.
The new edition of German weekly Der Spiegel quotes Günther Oettinger the European commissioner for energy, saying that “Europe should offer Turkey the prospect of financial support beyond 2017.
“To fully finance the efforts that Turkey has to make to house and care for refugees, sums would quickly add up to six or seven billion euros per year.”
Updated
Here’s the full report of David Cameron’s comments, from our Brussels correspondent.
Arriving at the EU-Turkey summit in Brussels, David Cameron said there was no prospect the UK would join a common European asylum policy.
The UK is not in the passport-free Schengen zone, although is signed up to the EU’s Dublin regulation, which obliges member states to take responsibility for refugees who arrive in their country first.
But the Dublin system is on the brink of collapse, after more than a million refugees and migrants arrived in Europe in 2015, while up t0 2,000 continue to land in Greece every day. In the coming days the European commission will outline plans to overhaul EU asylum policy, with the aim of stopping people being waved through border checkpoints and travelling to a country of their choice.
The UK can choose whether it joins the new system.
Prime Minister David Cameron @Number10gov in Brussels for #EUCO Summit on #migrationcrisis: https://t.co/fzIkJiSm5H pic.twitter.com/lpPc0eU6aa
— UKREP (@ukineu) March 7, 2016
The prime minister said the British opt-out underlined the UK’s “special status” in the EU, a phrase he has used heavily since securing a reform deal with other EU leaders earlier this month.
“We have an absolutely rock solid opt-out from these things, so there is no prospect of Britain joining a common asylum process in Europe. We will have our own approach, our own way of doing things, keeping our own borders. It underlines the best of both worlds, the special status we have.”
Cameron added that it was “important that we help the continent of Europe to secure its external border” and “that is why we are sending British ships to do just that”.
Updated
Will Merkel oppose statement that west Balkans route is 'closed'?
One of the flashpoints for today’s summit may be German chancellor Angela Merkel’s reluctance for the EU’s final statement to describe the western Balkans route as “closed”.
A draft EU statement, cited by Reuters, said: “Irregular flows of migrants along the western Balkans route are coming to an end; this route is now closed.”
According to German media, government sources say they are uneasy with the description, because people are still arriving in Germany via that route, even though it is only a few hundred a day as opposed to thousands.
German Government sources: Germany won´t accept summit statmement. Western Balkans Route is not closed. #EUCO https://t.co/sXc0yLVDrf
— Stefan Leifert (@StefanLeifert) March 7, 2016
Merkel arrived at the summit earlier, telling reporters: “I hope that we can reach an agreement [but] negotiations will be difficult. It will take a few hours.”
She said her aim is to reduce the number of people entering illegally “and not just for a few countries, but for all countries. That means for Greece too.”
The French president, Francois Hollande, was unequivocal in his language as he arrived this morning, telling reporters: “That is what is the case today – that route is closed.”
About 33,000 refugees and migrants are now stranded in Greece, unable to move north.
Updated
David Cameron, the British prime minister, has just arrived at the summit. In a short exchange with reporters, he emphasised how Britain has a “rock solid” opt-out over asylum policy.
Cameron said there was “no prospect of [Britain] joining a common asylum approach.”
We will have our own asylum approach, our own way of doing things, keeping our borders. It underlines the best of both worlds, the special status that we have.
Though Britain has it’s own asylum policy, Cameron said the UK would be part of the discussion because the refugee crisis had an effect on the whole continent.
Updated
EU leaders, as well as Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu, have been arriving over the past hour at the European council, and will meet for a working lunch from 11.30am GMT, after which we’ll have a press conference.
Council members will meet again from 2pm GMT and another press conference will follow that.
Updated
A new EU-Turkey deal is on the table – but at what cost?
Good morning, we’ll be following the developments live in Brussels today as European leaders try once more to reach agreement with Turkey over the thousands of refugees and migrants crossing from the country into Europe.
Last year a joint action plan was agreed with the aim of keeping more refugees outside of Europe. The EU pledged €3bn for housing and food for the estimated three million refugees currently living in Turkey, in return for a clampdown on people smugglers.
But recent discussions have ended in clashes, with EU leaders accusing the Turkey of repeated failures to reduce the crossings. Every day between 1,000 to 2,000 people are landing on Greece’s shores, and 35,000 people are trapped in the country, unable to travel north as a result of border closures.
Turkey, for its part, says the EU has not turned its funding into workable refugee aid. The Turkish deputy ambassador to Britain, Cem Işik, said his government had already spent more than €8bn (£6.2bn) on the crisis and only negligible amounts have arrived from the EU.
Here are some of the the key points for discussion:
-
Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey’s prime minister, has signalled the country may be willing to accept people being returned to Turkey if they do not qualify for asylum in Europe, such as Moroccans and Pakistanis.
- Last week, more than 300 people were sent back to Turkey from Greece, hailed as a major step forward by EU diplomats. Greece has been trying for more than two months to return almost 900 people to Turkey.
- EU leaders will also officially declare the western Balkans route to Europe closed, though this is already the reality for refugees who had hoped to travel that route to Germany or other northern European countries. A draft communique reads:
This route is now closed. The EU will stand by Greece in this difficult moment and will do it utmost to help manage the situation.
But this is the clincher, is it legal, and is it the right thing to do?
- The Geneva conventions prohibit the return of asylum seekers who have not received a fair hearing, and Vincent Cochetel, who is leading the UN refugee agency’s response to the European crisis, hinted to the FT that EU courts may not look kindly on the agreement, unless Turkish asylum law changes to guarantee those returned have the opportunity to claim refuge.
-
Human rights groups are also concerned. Here’s what Judith Sunderland, acting deputy director for the Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch, thinks of the deal:
EU leaders are in a panic to stop refugee flows before spring, and they seem willing to throw human rights overboard in the process.
It is naked self-interest and wishful thinking to say Turkey is a safe country of asylum – it is not, and this deal could cause much more harm than good.
- The timing of the summit is awkward, given that over the weekend the Turkish newspaper Zaman was seized by the government and its editor-in-chief removed, sparking an outcry over press freedoms.
On a similar note:
- There will also be a gathering of the European commission next week, focusing on proposals to overhaul the EU’s asylum system, which requires refugees to register and be processed in the country they arrive in. That system has essentially broken down over the past year, with so many thousands of people arriving on the shores of Italy and Greece.
