EU Leaders to Meet Turkish PM March 18 to Address Refugee Crisis

The heads of EU member states will meet Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu early on March 18 conserning current European migration crisis.

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) – The heads of EU member states will meet Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu early on March 18 to discuss efforts to stem the flow of migrants into the European Union, a source close to the bloc’s leadership told reporters Wednesday.

The March 17-18 European Council agenda lists a "specific working session" with Davutoglu on EU-Turkey cooperation slated for Friday.

The EU source expressed hope that the meeting would take place in the early hours of March 18, followed by the adoption of an EU-Turkey statement as an addendum to the preliminary agreements reached at the March 7 summit.

The sides made progress at the last EU summit on a joint action plan with Turkey, envisioning the allocation of 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) on refugee projects in Turkey over two years. In exchange, Ankara would be required to accept undocumented migrants and send an approved Syrian refugee to the bloc.

Additionally, the European Union agreed to fast-track the disbursement of the refugee project funds, as well as visa liberalization and EU membership accession talks.

Davutoglu disclosed earlier on Wednesday that the sides planned to discuss the disbursement of an additional 3 billion euros for 2018.