The European Union leaders did not come to any final decisions on the refugee crisis on Monday’s summit with Turkey, but the Greek side appeared satisfied with the initial outcome.
The final decisions will be taken on March 17-18, at the scheduled EU summit in Brussels, where the Turkish proposals will be clarified.
Turkey drove a hard bargain in the negotiations. The outline of the negotiations was based on the following issues:
- The return of all illegal immigrants who pass through Turkey to the Greek islands
- Expedite procedures for Turkish citizens to travel to Europe without a visa
- Expedite the disbursement of 3 billion euros of financial aid to Turkey to handle migrant flows
- Additional financing to Turkey for the settlement of Syrian refugees
- Opening chapters for Turkey’s accession in the EU
- Establishing safe areas in Syria so that less Syrians would be forced to flee
- A resettlement deal dictating that for every refugee from the Greek islands Turkey takes back, it can send a Syrian refugee to Europe to be accommodated in an EU state.
There were differences among nations regarding the way refugees should be handled. Although the Visegrad countries’ stance was met with disapproval by the majority of EU member states, European leaders did not decide to open the northern border of Greece, keeping the Western Balkans route closed.
An important development was that Turkey will take back the illegal migrants who crossed to Greece from its shores. Also, for every Syrian readmitted by Turkey from the Greek islands, one Syrian refugee will be resettled from Turkey to the EU member states and the EU will completely evacuate refugees from the Greek islands, readmitting only those who landed on the islands after a date to be determined.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras appeared satisfied by the outcome, saying that the EU summit isolated those who want to isolate Greece.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande pledged that Greece will receive substantial financial aid to deal with the refugees who are stranded on Greek soil.
See full statement here.
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