Turkey presents European Union with wish list to help it stem migration

Source: First Post, 16/10/2015

Brussels: Turkey asked the European Union for 3 billion euros on
Thursday, easier travel to the EU for its citizens and diplomatic
favors in exchange for helping stem the flow of Syrian refugees to
Europe, EU officials and diplomats said after talks in Ankara.


Faced with their worst migration crisis since World War Two, European
countries need the support of Turkey from where most of migrants and
asylum seekers transit to reach Europe.


Senior Turkish and European Commission officials who talked late into
the night in Ankara were "close to finalizing" a cooperation agreement
largely along the lines of a Commission draft published last week,
officials involved in the talks said.


Police stands near a truck that stands on the shoulder of the highway
in Austria. AP
A new draft, seen by Reuters, removed a reference to an offer of 1
billion euros, some of which was already scheduled to be paid. It now
says the EU will offer "substantial and concrete new funds" outside
those already part of aid program.


Any measures will eventually need approval from EU leaders, who were
meeting in Brussels on Thursday to discuss cooperation with Ankara.
They were not expected to make major decisions.


Separate from the written "action plan", EU officials and diplomats
said Turkey presented the negotiators with other demands, including
the 3 billion euros and speeding up a deal that would, in time, give
all Turks visa-free access to Europe.


Ankara also wants a revamp of the negotiations leading to EU
membership, overcoming a years-long deadlock. Six new "chapters" --
areas where EU states share common policies -- should be opened on
energy, economic and monetary affairs, foreign affairs, education,
home affairs and the judiciary. Since accession talks began a decade
ago, 14 chapters have been opened. The full process requires accords
in over 30 areas.


Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan also wants invitations to EU summits
and for Turkey to be on an EU list of countries considered "safe" for
rejected migrants to be deported to -- a status being accorded to all
other EU candidate countries.


WISH LIST
The Commission negotiating team is led by First Vice President Frans
Timmermans and enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn. EU officials
stress that any agreement will need to be endorsed by the Council of
the EU's 28 member governments.


Diplomats and officials questioned whether the request for new aid was
realistic in the short term: "The 3 billion euros are like a Christmas
shopping list that is completely unrealistic," one source close to the
negotiations said.


The Commission, which manages collective EU funds, has committed 250
million euros of fresh money but cannot offer more as the EU budget
has a limited flexibility, officials said.


"EU states will have to do their part, at least matching the
Commission commitment and offering more if they wish so," a top EU
negotiator said.


EU leaders gathered in Brussels on Thursday "will somehow address the
issues raised but, as they are so recent, there is a limit on how far
they can go," a EU diplomat said.


Several diplomats said the speeding up of visa liberalization --
offering visa waivers to business travelers, for example -- would be
possible as long as Turkey accepts previously agreed conditions and
also implements a parallel agreement to take back migrants rejected by
the EU.


Broadening EU membership talks could face opposition from Cyprus,
which has blocked the opening of new chapters in the past as it tries
to secure a peace deal with the Turkish-backed breakaway state in the
north of the island.
Reuters