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1st LD-Writethru: EU leaders reach agreement on migrant position to offer Turkey

Xinhua, March 18, 2016 Adjust font size:

European Union (EU) leaders reached agreement on the migrant crisis to present to Turkey, said Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettle late Thursday.

European Council President Donald Tusk would present it to the Turkish prime minister Friday morning, according to Bettel on Twitter.

Moreover, a press conference that was to be attended by Tusk and European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker, was cancelled.

"Working dinner finished. No press conference tonight," Tusk's spokesperson Preben Aamann tweeted early Friday morning.

The EU leaders first discussed the state of the European economy on Thursday as they gathered here for a two-day summit. But whether an EU-Turkey migrant deal may be reached or not unsurprisingly attracted the most attention.

Ankara on March 7 presented to Brussels new proposals to tackle the migrant crisis, asking for extra financial aid, speed-up of its EU membership negotiation process and a more liberalized visa scheme in exchange.

The EU delayed the decision until the summit. Endi