The agreement must effectively help solve the migration crisis and contribute to a comprehensive strategy, including getting back to Schengen, ending the wave-through policy, humanitarian assistance to Greece, support to the Western Balkans and reinforcing cooperation with Turkey, he noted.
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– There are signs more people may try to sail to Italy. Three bodies also have been recovered. The German head of government commented on the recent drop in migrant arrivals, caused by the closure of borders along the Balkan route. On Tuesday, another 951 migrants were rescued.
Ahead of the summit, EU Council President Donald Tusk said “I am cautiously optimistic, but frankly more cautious than optimistic” about the chances for success.
He added: “The catalogue of issues to be resolved before we can conclude an agreement is long”.
“Making Turkey the gatekeeper does not absolve Europe from its responsibility of welcoming migrants”.
Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu will attend a breakfast meeting on Friday, the second day of the summit.
“I’m pretty sure and confident that we will reach an agreement with Turkey today or tomorrow”, Mr Juncker said, in comments translated by Reuters.
Juncker in a German newspaper interview said Turkey was “not ready” for membership and would not be for “another ten years”.
The EU spokesperson admitted “it’s not easy to negotiate a new deal”.
Tsipras was speaking before Thursday’s European Union summit focused on finalizing a deal to send thousands of migrants back to Turkey.
It states: “The EU, together with Turkey, will prepare for the decision on the opening of new chapters in the accession negotiations as soon as possible”.
“It is crucial that the conditions for Turkey to obtain visa liberalisation do not change”, she stressed. The lack of progress in the latest draft underscores that many member states have problems with the deal.
Ankara had also asked for visa liberalization by end of June this year – another tricky issue for European Union countries that have been reluctant to open up to 75 million Turks.
Europe would continue to “voice our convictions to Turkey regarding, for instance, the protection of press freedom or the treatment of the Kurds”, Merkel said.
Ambulance personnel ferrying migrants rescued at sea by a helicopter, to a waiting ambulance, in the Altinoluk district in Balikesir. They aim to agree the final details of a plan to stop migrants and refugees coming to Europe. He said some 4,200 migrants have died trying to reach Europe since the beginning of 2015.
USA actress Angelina Jolie, centre, is surrounded by journalists during her visit at the port of Piraeus near Athens, Wednesday, March 16, 2016. So the moves have left almost 46,000 people stuck in Greece, including some 14,000 camped out in the border town of Idomeni who are desperately hoping to move on toward Germany or Scandinavia.
President Nicos Anastasiades said Thursday that “every candidate country should fulfill its obligations and it’s obvious that unfortunately, until now, Turkey hasn’t”. Hungary refuses to resettle refugees from Turkey, saying that would only attract more people to Europe.
Right-wing members of Greece’s left-led coalition government are calling for the resignation of the country’s minister for immigration, Ioannis Mouzalas, who departed from the official Greek line in a reference to neighboring Macedonia.
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The EU is also cooperating closely with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation to cope with the migration crisis.
