The European Council president, Donald Tusk, earlier announced the postponed extraordinary summit with Turkey would now be held probably in early March.
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European Council President Donald Tusk stated in a joint press convention with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker that the EU was to organise a particular assembly with Turkey in March.
A planned meeting of 11 countries including Austria and Germany with Turkey was cancelled late Wednesday after Turkey’s premier pulled out following a bomb attack in Ankara.
Meanwhile, the European Union border agency Frontex said one of its maritime patrols rescued around 900 migrants yesterday near the Greek island of Lesbos as weather conditions have made the sea crossing more unsafe.
“The full and speedy implementation of the EU-Turkey Action Plan remains a priority, in order to stem migration flows and to tackle traffickers’ and smugglers’ networks”, EU heads of government said in a statement following a meeting in Brussels on Thursday.
#Merkel confirms Austria will introduce ceiling of 80 asylum seekers per day.
Previous year we had “more asylum requests than Italy and much more than France”.
An EU diplomat told AFP the programme referred to plans by a core group of EU countries dubbed the “coalition of the willing” that offer to resettle refugees directly from camps in Turkey over strong opposition elswhere, including in eastern Europe.
She said the EU “must see quickly if measures work” under the plan agreed at another EU-Turkey summit in November, in which Turkey agreed to cut migrant flows in exchange for 3 billion ($5 billion) in aid.
Sweden said it plans to house almost 1,800 refugees on a luxury cruise ship, as it struggles to cope with its share of the huge refugee influx into Europe.
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The meeting also called for unity of all European Union institutions and member states.
