Off the wire
• Nigerian doctor dies of Lassa fever, over 100 killed  • CBF vice-president vows not to interfere with Dunga's work  • Two Italian hostages freed in Libya  • Greek, Turkish Cypriot journalists team up to jointly publish print, online newspaper  • India announces election dates in 5 states  • News analysis: Should euthanasia in Portugal be made legal or is lack of palliative care the root problem?  • Zika infects lab-grown brain cells, strengthens link to microcephaly: study  • Protection urged for albinos in Malawi after brutal child killing  • 20 bln USD idle in domiciliary accounts of Nigerians: apex bank  • Military drills cease within buffer zone in east Ukraine, continue nearby: OSCE  
You are here: 　 Home

EU to move forward in cooperation with Turkey on migration: Tusk

Xinhua, March 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

European Council president Donald Tusk said on Friday that the European Union (EU) need to move forward in cooperation with Turkey to stem flows of refugees entering Europe.

"In my meeting with Prime Minister (Ahmet) Davutoglu in Ankara on Thursday, we agreed that there is good progress to report on a number of actions in our EU-Turkey Action Plan but that the number of illegal entries from Turkey to Greece remains far too high," Tusk wrote in his letters to EU leaders ahead of next Monday's EU-Turkey summit.

"We both believe that we can reduce the flow through large-scale and rapid return from Greece of all migrants not in need of international protection," Tusk said, adding that: "On Monday, I would like us, together with Prime Minister Davutoglu, to discuss our cooperation on migration and beyond and endorse the concrete steps to implement our action plan."

He also noted that the countries of the Western Balkans route, which was the main entry point for migrants, are expected to agree to end "the so-called wave-through policy" at the upcoming meeting.

At the European Council in February, European leaders agreed to organize a special meeting with Turkey to speedy implementation of the EU-Turkey action plan, in order to stem migration flows and tackle networks of traffickers and smugglers. Endit