BRUSSELS. The leaders of the 28 EU countries and Turkey have formally reached a landmark deal aimed at halting illegal migration to Europe.
Under the agreement, new migrants arriving in Greece who don’t qualify for asylum will be sent back to Turkey in operations paid for by the EU.
In the controversial “one in, one out” deal, for every person that Turkey accepts, the EU would take in one Syrian refugee.
There is a target figure of 72,000 people to be distributed among European states.
The EU will also offer Turkey – currently home to 2.7 million Syrian refugees – up to 6bn euros ($6.6bn) in aid and faster EU membership talks.
More than 46,000 migrants are trapped in Greece, after Austria and a series of Balkan countries stopped letting through refugees who reach Greece from Turkey and want to go to Germany and elsewhere.
Greece wants refugees to move from Idomeni to organised shelters.
European Council president and summit chairman Donald Tusk made the announcement of a deal in a tweet.
He wrote: “Now unanimous agreement between all EU HoSG (Heads of State or Government) and Turkey’s PM on EU-Turkey Statement.”
After a morning of talks with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Mr Tusk recommended the 28 EU member states approve the text without changes and they rapidly agreed at a summit lunch in Brussels.
“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.
The leaders of the 28 EU member states have been meeting in Brussels to discuss a plan aimed at easing Europe’s worst migration crisis since the Second World War.
Turkey is also asking the EU for billions in additional financial aid, an acceleration of its bid for EU membership and visa-free travel for Turkish citizens to the EU.
Sky’s Senior Political Correspondent Sophy Ridge, in Brussels, said whatever is agreed on paper may not deter the wave of desperate refugees on the move.
“Leaders may be desperate for a deal, but many think its unenforceable, some even illegal,” she said.
“The concerns over visa-free travel for Turks won’t go away. Turkey’s price, they say, is simply too high.”
She added: “The aim of this summit was to break the traffickers’ business model and to send a message that the unofficial routes to Europe will no longer work.
“But these are desperate refugees, and if one route closes to them they may make other, more perilous, journeys.”
Credit: Sky News
