EU leaders urged Turkey on Thursday to help stem the flow of refugees towards Europe, offering concessions if a reluctant Ankara agrees to a plan to curb the biggest migration crisis since World War II.
As leaders gathered for a summit in Brussels, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that Europe could not tackle the problem without the help of Turkey, which is hosting more than two million Syrian refugees.
“We cannot organise or stem the refugee movements without working with Turkey,” said Merkel as she urged Europe to stand together in the face of a tide of more than 600,000 migrants this year alone.
But in a sign of the divisions within the union over the crisis, Hungary said it had completed work on a border fence with fellow EU member Croatia to stem the massive daily influx.
Senior EU officials were in Turkey on Wednesday to press the government to accept a plan that was first presented to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Brussels the week before, and were due to report back to the leaders.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, was ready to offer Turkey up to three billion euros in aid to seal the deal, European sources said.
Turkey is the main launching point for migrants entering Europe, most of them making the short but dangerous sea crossing to the Greek islands as they flee war and repression in the Middle East and North Africa.
But French President Francois Hollande said there had to be “clear rules” on what Turkey could expect, playing down Ankara’s demands for the easing of visa rules as would be expected for a long-standing candidate for EU membership.
“There must not be an understanding that just because we want Turkey to help us by keeping refugees in its country, that there will be unconditional visa liberalisation,” Hollande said as he arrived for the summit.
– ‘We need guarantees’ –
European leaders hope that by giving Turkey financial aid and practical assistance to cope with the refugees and tighten border controls, they can stop more people risking their lives on the perilous journey to Europe.
They have dangled the carrot of progress in Turkey’s long-standing EU membership talks, which have stalled over its human rights record.
But Ankara has appeared reluctant so far on the refugee plan, demanding more cash and swifter moves towards visa-free travel to Europe, as well as rejecting proposals for more refugee camps.
European Council President Donald Tusk, who is hosting the summit, said it was proving “difficult” to get firm commitments from Turkey.
“We need guarantees that Turkey’s response to our offer will be as concrete and as substantive as ours,” Tusk told reporters.
The EU leaders will also discuss the issue of a border guard system as they try to strengthen their controls.
Merkel, whose country says it expects up to a million asylum applications this year, said she wanted “clear signals” that European countries would provide personnel to boost border forces, as well as stumping up more money.
“It is clear that certain countries are welcoming very many refugees. And if they also have to provide personnel for external borders, I don’t think we can call that fair burden sharing,” she said.
– Drownings off Greece –
As leaders gathered, seven migrants, four of them children, drowned Thursday after their boat collided with a Greek rescue vessel near the Greek island of Lesbos — the current point of entry for one in every five migrants arriving in the EU.
More than 3,000 migrants have drowned while crossing the Mediterranean this year.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras made a similar call for action to help his debt-hit country and the continent as a whole.
“Support for Europe’s frontline countries, with respect and solidarity to the refugees, is for our common European interest,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Hungarian government announced Thursday it had completed construction of a fence along its southern border with Croatia, to stem the massive daily influx.
Croatia said more than 4,800 people had entered on Wednesday, bringing the overall number of arrivals in the EU member state to nearly 175,000.
There are growing fears that Europe’s passport-free Schengen zone could collapse as countries try to curb the huge numbers of migrants criss-crossing the continent.
Leaders will also discuss a possible safe zone that Turkey wants to establish on its border with war-torn Syria, but Tusk said he would be focusing on more “pragmatic and realistic” issues.
“If we add the fact of the Russian presence and activity in Syria today it shows how difficult this possible safe zone is,” he said.
Mindful of the Ukraine conflict in the background, the EU leaders were set to express “concern about Russian attacks on the Syrian opposition and civilians, and the risk of further military escalation,” said draft summit conclusions obtained by AFP.