Skip to content. | Skip to navigation

Personal tools
Sections
You are here: Home Breaking news Terms of EU-Turkey migrant crisis deal

Terms of EU-Turkey migrant crisis deal

30 November 2015, 22:58 CET
— filed under: , , ,
Terms of EU-Turkey migrant crisis deal

Refugees in Ankara, Turkey - Photo © The European Union

(BRUSSELS) - A deal between the EU and Turkey agreed in Brussels on Sunday offers cash and political concessions to Ankara in return for its help on the migration crisis.

Here are the key points of the deal from the conclusions of the European Union-Turkey summit

EU AID FOR TURKEY:

"The EU will provide immediate and continuous humanitarian assistance in Turkey... The EU is committed to provide an initial three billion euros ($3.2 billion) of additional resources. The need for and nature of this funding will be reviewed in the light of the developing situation."

EU President Donald Tusk said the funds would be spent on Syrian refugees.

TURKEY'S BID TO JOIN THE EU:

Turkey and EU "agreed that the accession process needs to be re-energised" after a decade of faltering negotiations. They agreed to open on December 14 chapter 17 of Turkey's accession process, which covers economic and monetary policy.

VISAS:

The EU welcomes Turkey's commitment to speed up efforts to meet conditions Brussels set to make it easier for Turks to obtain visas to European member states.

It aims to lift visa requirements for Turkish citizens in Europe's borderless Schengen zone by October 2016 once Turkey meets EU requirements.

RESETTLING REFUGEES FROM TURKEY WITHIN THE EU:

"They underlined the contribution by member states and existing EU resettlement schemes and programmes." The EU this year agreed to resettle around 20,000 refugees within the bloc from camps in the Middle East, including Turkey. But the EU made no commitment Sunday to resettle more.

JOINT ACTION PLAN:

"Turkey and the EU have decided to activate the Joint Action Plan," which the two sides had provisionally agreed on October 15 to better manage the migrant flow.

Under the plan, both sides will work more together to protect people fleeing war while preventing entry to other migrants or ensuring those who do enter the EU and Turkey are "swiftly" returned to their countries of origin. International law requires countries to provide protection to people fleeing war but not those migrating for economic reasons.

"Both sides underlined their shared commitment to take decisive and swift action to enhance the fight against criminal smuggling networks."

CUSTOMS UNION:

"They took note of the launching of preparatory steps for upgrading the Customs Union. After completion of this preparatory work by both sides, formal negotiations could be launched towards the end of 2016".

SUMMITS:

"Both sides agreed to have regular summits twice a year" to help assess progress in their relations. They proposed regular talks on foreign and security policy against the backdrop of deadly attacks in France, Turkey and other countries blamed on the Islamic State group.

Meeting of heads of state or government with Turkey - EU-Turkey statement, 29/11/2015


Document Actions