European Union leaders agreed to offer Turkey financial and political assistance if it stops migrants from heading to Greece. The EU leaders hope that they would settle a deal to end the migrant crisis on March 18.
According to Dailymail UK, European Union leaders already agreed on the proposed plan to send tens of thousands of migrants back to Turkey. They are also planning to put the measures to Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
A total of 28 European leaders assembled together in Brussels. They assured that the draft deal, which they thrashed out overnight, would not result in mass deportations.
"The 28 have agreed on a proposal," French President Francois Hollande stated regarding the proposed plan. He added, "It was late in the evening, but it has been done."
The effort is to ease the tension placed on Europe's borders by the arrival of more than a million migrants in a year. The EU has turned to Turkey hoping to stem the flow of refugees into overburdened Greece.
Belfast Telegraph claimed that the proposed plan would importantly outsource Europe's biggest refugee emergency in decades to Turkey, even though there were concerns raised about its sub-par asylum system and human rights abuses. EU would also shell off a certain amount to send the new migrants arriving in Greece who do not qualify for the asylum going back to Turkey.
Moreover, for each migrant returned, the EU would also accept one Syrian refugee. This would allegedly total for 72,000 people to be distributed among European states.
In return, as the EU would take in Syrian refugees directly from Turkey, they would provide 6 billion euros or $6.6 billion. This would aid the housing project for the refugees and speed up Ankara's EU membership negotiations and visa-free travel plans.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who first developed the plan with the Turkish Prime Minister at a summit 10 days ago, stated that finalizing the deal would be easy. But it also expressed that all European leaders should want an agreement to slow or halt the arrival of thousands of migrants in Greece.
Drafts of the plan also prove that the EU is demanding Turkey to adopt the legislation. This is to protect the asylum seekers in line with the Geneva Convention, although the Ankara has limited its formal commitments to that treaty in the past, as reported by Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty.
With the offer in hand, Tusk planned to head a negotiating team meeting with Davutoglu on March 18. However, securing Turkey's agreement is far from certain for now.
Meanwhile the plan still seeks to preserve the rights of asylum seekers for legal protections. EU officials also stress that the overall goal is to quickly put off most people from trying to cross the Aegean Sea to Greece, which will put an end to the steady stream of migrants seen in the past years.
