(Update: 18:30): The European Union and Turkey sealed a deal to return migrants arriving across the Aegean to Europe, summit chairman Donald Tusk confirmed.
“Agreement with Turkey approved. All illegal migrants who arrive to Greece from Turkey starting March 20 will be returned!” Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka tweeted from inside the meeting, Reuters reports.
(Update: 16:50): According to information, EU leaders are having a working lunch to discuss the revised final proposal presented by Donald Tusk. The same sources claim that if European leaders reach an agreement with Turkey, the proposed plan will take effect as of Sunday evening. According to sources, Turkey agrees with the proposal, therefore the European Council President urges Europe’s leaders to accept it without any changes so as to issue a joint statement afterwards.
(Update: 15:20): The EU-Turkey meeting began again after a short break, while the ‘bargaining’ game’ among Ahmet Davutoglu, Jean-Claude Juncker, Donald Tusk and Mark Rutte is in progress. According to information, they could not reach an agreement on basic and crucial points, such as the opening of Turkish accession chapters into the EU, as well as the lifting of travel visas for Turkish citizens.
(Update: 13:55): A second break in the negotiations between the two sides reveals a ‘tough bargaining’ game is going on between the EU and Turkey. The two sides had a 1st interuption for technical deatils to be ironed out, but soon after a second stop occurred. The meeting will resume in a short while, according to sources.
(Update: 12:40) The EU-Davutoglu meeting was interupted, for some technical details to be sorted out, acoording to tweet posted by Dnald Tusk’s spokesperson. The meeting will resume shortly.
The meeting between European commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, European Council President Donald Tusk, Dutch PM Mark Rutte who is presiding as EU President with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is currently under way in Brussels. The European leaders are presenting the Turkish PM with the document they hammered out Friday night after deliberations. Sources says that Davutoglu will not accept the proposals outlined in the document due to the many ‘red lines’ contained in it by the Europeans.
Before entering the meeting Davutoglu said expressed hope that the goal of solving the refugee crisis and strengthening EU-Turkish relations would be reached. A top ranking EU official anonymously said the Europeans would not divulge all their ‘cards’ to Turkey at this juncture of negotiations. Whether an initial deal can be reached will depend largely on the demands Turkey will put forward on the refugee issue in conjunction with the reopening of Turkish accession chapters into the EU. A factor that could also influence the development of the latter is the fact that Cyprus has threatened to veto any concessions to Turkey, if it first does not lift the embargo Cypriot products in northern Cyprus sea and air ports.
On its part, the Greek government has outlined its priorities on the agreement, which include the provision of immediate economic and humanitarian aid to Greece to deal with the refugees and illegal immigrants already in the country, as well as a clear steps to stem the flow of refugees across the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coasts. In terms of the reopening of chapters for Turkish EU admission, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras said a key precondition was the resolution of the Cypriot problem.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan unleashed a harsh attack against the EU on the criticism the latter leveled against Turkey over its human rights record. he said Europe should look at its own performance over the refugee crisis before pointing fingers at Turkey.
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