MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The European Union should grant Turkey additional funding, as the country plays the key role in curbing the migrant flow from Middle East and North Africa into Europe, the Polish Foreign Ministry told Sputnik Thursday.
"Ankara deserves help from the European Union as it is a key country that can stem the uncontrolled flow of migrants and makes an outstanding effort hosting 2.7 million Syrian refugees, not mentioning other nationalities," the ministry's press office said.
On Monday, the EU-Turkey summit resulted in a deal on stemming migration flows into the European Union from the Middle East through Turkey. The sides focused on a speedy implementation of the EU-Turkey action plan.
Turkey demanded additional 3 billion euros (3.3 billion dollars) from the European Union to deal with migrants on top of the previous 3 billion-euro EU pledge, offering to take back all undocumented migrants in exchange for legal Syrian refugees seeking to enter Euro on a one-for-one basis.
As part of the deal on migration, Turkey was offered an accelerated implementation of a visa-free regime with the European Union, as well as the resumption of EU accession talks. French President Francois Hollande said that visa liberalization for Turkish citizens, which may take place in June, is only possible if 72 conditions are met.
The Polish diplomatic service reiterated its support for both processes, as well as their conditionality.
A final agreement between the European Union and Turkey is expected to be announced at the next EU-Turkey summit on March 17-18.
