EU leaders want deal that would reduce number of migrants and refugees making dangerous journey across Aegean Sea to Greece
Summit preview: leaders try to stem flow of people
UK to join Nato refugee patrols in Aegean
We’re going to put this blog on pause now. You can read our latest wrap from the summit here. Thanks for reading.
The €20bn that Reuters reported earlier that Turkey was asking for appears to have been a mistake. Reuters is now reporting that the parties have agreed on an extra €3bn.
On Turks apparently asking for 20bn euros -- Turkish ambo Selim Yenel tells me it is "totally ludicrous". Think it came from an AFAD stat
The key elements of that draft statement, seen by Reuters are:
The EU will give Turkey the €3bn it has requested to help it shelter Syrians, according to a draft statement seen by Reuters.
A draft statement prepared during an EU-Turkey summit listed actions that both sides could take to end the migration crisis.
Among these, were a proposal that Turkey would take back all irregular migrants from Greek islands, including Syrians, while the EU would then admit directly from Turkey one Syrian refugee for every Syrian readmitted to Turkey from the Greek islands.
The European Parliament president, Martin Schulz, talking about the meeting of the EU leaders with Turkey, has confirmed that Turkey has requested an extra 3bn Euros from the EU
Press conference now on #EUCO meeting with #Turkeyhttps://t.co/qlj1vVjq9K
The Syria Campaign (TSC), an independent group focusing on the protection of civilians in the war-torn country, says politicians in Brussels must deal with the root cause of the crisis:
James Sadri of TSC said:
World leaders have done nothing to stop the killing machine in Syria. Most Syrian refugees in Europe are fleeing from the bombs and brutality of the Assad regime, not from Isis or other extremist groups.
European politicians should be rolling out the red carpet to these vulnerable people, instead they’re rolling out the barbed wire.
The prime minister of Greece has met his Turkish counterpart.
Mtg w/PM @Ahmet_Davutoglu. We have the opportunity to show we're facing the issues in our neighborhd #EUTurkey#EUCOpic.twitter.com/UTyNewREmh
EU leaders are now chewing over Davutoglu’s new proposals until dinner time in Brussels. I’m now handing live blog duties over to my colleague Haroon Siddique.
Turkey is set to offer to take back all non-Syrian migrants who have been denied asylum in Europe, as well as all the people who are picked up in the boats while they are in its territorial waters, but PM Davutoglu has told leaders he wants more from them too.
Diplomats said that at a preparatory meeting with German chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte on Sunday night, Davutoglu demanded more than the €3bn earmarked so far to support Syrian refugees in Turkey.
One source said Ankara was seeking €20bn.
Accession chapters still the main sticking point on the Turkey-EU deal. Cyprus unhappy. Zaman issue was also raised over lunch
Confused by what we mean by the Western Balkan route? This should go some way to explain. Countries in blue show the countries which are routes to northern Europe, and the yellow shows where the borders are closed off.
As the leaders go into the talks, AFP’s Danny Kemp reports that the Turkish prime minister is not just demanding a better offer from Brussels, but is also “offering more”.
The Turks 'are offering more, they are demanding more... It's more ambitious on all aspects', European source tells @AFP
The EU leaders have finished their working lunch and next up is the moment many will dread - the so-called “family photo”.
Lunch is over. Now family photo. Then EU28 meeting on migration crisis
A spokesman for Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu has confirmed what was hinted at earlier: Turkey is planning to present EU leaders with new proposals that go beyond any previous offers from Ankara, though he would not say what those were.
“We are presenting a new idea today to seriously tackle and solve this problem,” he told reporters. “This proposal involves several new elements.”
Apart from German tussles over border closures and new Turkish demands for travel visa easing, here’s what’s on the menu in Brussels today.
Breaking: the turkish summit lunch menu -- carrot flan? ewww pic.twitter.com/RMoi4NVarR
.@JunckerEU@eucopresident#EUCO working lunch w/ @Ahmet_Davutoglu: working in partnership to tackle #RefugeeCrisispic.twitter.com/EdBOCEzuRm
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been speaking just now, saying he hoped his country would receive the cold hard cash - all €3bn of it - which it was promised by the end of the summit today.
“We already spent $10bn for three million people,” he said in broadcast speech.
They promised to give us €3bn, four months have passed since then. The prime minister is in Brussels right now. I hope he returns with that money.
Look, they say on the other side, ‘don’t let refugees come in’. Okay. But it is not us that is sending them. They are coming from the sea and a lot of them are unfortunately dying.
The Guardian’s migration correspondent Patrick Kingsley sums up the scale of the challenges facing Europe, even a plan is agreed today by EU leaders.
“With that,” said Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, with all the confidence of a magician at a circus, “we will close the western Balkans route.”
We had expected an afternoon press conference with EU leaders and Turkey’s Davutoglu, but we’re now being told that it has been postponed until after dinner.
Davutoglu is meeting the EU28 leaders now, who will then discuss Turkey’s additional demands.
Leaders are settling for the long haul here in Brussels, according to the Guardian’s Jennifer Rankin.
EU-Turkey summit to run into evening: lunch and dinner meetings with Turkish PM #EUCO
EU-Turkey 'will not be a short summit' says EU official. Davutoglu now giving EU28 Turkey's ideas on migration #refugeecrisis#EUCO
After a delayed start the working midday meal is underway in Brussels, with rumours now of some last-minute demands from Turkey on the lunch table.
Bosnia’s foreign minister Igor Crnadak has said his country has made preparations to deal with an influx of migrants trying to make their way to northern Europe in case the main Balkan route shifts further south, according to AP.
Optimism abounds this morning from the president of Lithuania.
Migrants move faster than we act #EUCO
We’re already running about half an hour late – the working lunch started about 20 minutes ago, instead of at 11.30am GMT. We’re expecting a statement to press after the leaders finish lunch, before another meeting this afternoon.
Lunch will start at 13h with Turkish PM @Ahmet_Davutoglu#EUCO
#E411 snowy drive to #brusselspic.twitter.com/UpIaFWrMR8
Patrick Kingsley, the Guardian’s migration correspondent, raises some of the key questions about the closure of the Balkans route – and what that entails practically.
If a humanitarian corridor through Macedonia is shut, does that necessarily mean that the Western Balkan route is “closed”?
Prior to the creation of that corridor, didn’t thousands make their own way anyway?
If 250,000+ people crossed the Greek-Albanian border in the early 1990s, could a similar number not do so again?
While the negotiations continue, the conditions for the 14,000 people at Greece’s border with Macedonia are worsening.
The number of refugees is increasing in Greece after Macedonia, backed by Austria, Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary, limited border crossings to a trickle.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu spoke to reporters as he arrived at the summit meeting, where he said he hoped the agreements would pave the way to begin serious talks on Turkish accession to the EU.
This summit itself shows how indispensable Turkey is for the EU and the EU for Turkey. We have many challenges in front of us. The only way to respond to these challenges is solidarity.
At the end of the day our continent is our continent all together. We have to see the whole picture, not just irregular migration but the whole future of our continent is on the table where we need solidarity between us.”
The Guardian’s Berlin correspondent has more on the tussle over the word “closed” in the EU statement, leading to disagreements between Angela Merkel and Jean-Claude Juncker.
Here’s the full report of David Cameron’s comments, from our Brussels correspondent.
Arriving at the EU-Turkey summit in Brussels, David Cameron said there was no prospect the UK would join a common European asylum policy.
Prime Minister David Cameron @Number10gov in Brussels for #EUCO Summit on #migrationcrisis: https://t.co/fzIkJiSm5Hpic.twitter.com/lpPc0eU6aa
One of the flashpoints for today’s summit may be German chancellor Angela Merkel’s reluctance for the EU’s final statement to describe the western Balkans route as “closed”.
A draft EU statement, cited by Reuters, said: “Irregular flows of migrants along the western Balkans route are coming to an end; this route is now closed.”
German Government sources: Germany won´t accept summit statmement. Western Balkans Route is not closed. #EUCOhttps://t.co/sXc0yLVDrf
David Cameron, the British prime minister, has just arrived at the summit. In a short exchange with reporters, he emphasised how Britain has a “rock solid” opt-out over asylum policy.
Cameron said there was “no prospect of [Britain] joining a common asylum approach.”
We will have our own asylum approach, our own way of doing things, keeping our borders. It underlines the best of both worlds, the special status that we have.
EU leaders, as well as Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu, have been arriving over the past hour at the European council, and will meet for a working lunch from 11.30am GMT, after which we’ll have a press conference.
Council members will meet again from 2pm GMT and another press conference will follow that.
Good morning, we’ll be following the developments live in Brussels today as European leaders try once more to reach agreement with Turkey over the thousands of refugees and migrants crossing from the country into Europe.
Last year a joint action plan was agreed with the aim of keeping more refugees outside of Europe. The EU pledged €3bn for housing and food for the estimated three million refugees currently living in Turkey, in return for a clampdown on people smugglers.
This route is now closed. The EU will stand by Greece in this difficult moment and will do it utmost to help manage the situation.
EU leaders are in a panic to stop refugee flows before spring, and they seem willing to throw human rights overboard in the process.
It is naked self-interest and wishful thinking to say Turkey is a safe country of asylum – it is not, and this deal could cause much more harm than good.
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