EU leaders are set to call on Turkey to do more to stop migrants and refugees from making the dangerous journey across the Aegean Sea to Greece Summit preview: leaders try to stem flow of people UK to join Nato refugee patrols in Aegean 11.26am GMT Worth noting that MARTIN SCHULZ, president of the European parliament, has promised that he will seek out Davutoglu to raise the issue of the Turkish daily newspaper that was seized by the government over the weekend. It is a subject many of the EU leaders at the council will want to skirt over. The seizure of #Zaman is yet another blow to #pressfreedom in #Turkey. I intend to raise this issue on Monday @Ahmet_Davutoglu Related: Seized Turkish opposition newspaper toes government line 11.23am GMT DAVID CAMERON, the British prime minister, has just arrived at the summit. In a short exchange with reporters, he emphasised how Britain has a “rock solid” opt-out over asylum policy. Cameron said there was “no prospect of [Britain] joining a common asylum approach, which underlines the special status we have”. 11.19am GMT EU leaders, as well as Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu, have been arriving over the past hour at the European council, and will meet for a working lunch from 11.30am GMT, after which we’ll have a press conference. Council members will meet again from 2pm GMT and another press conference will follow that. 11.12am GMT Good morning, we’ll be following the developments live in Brussels today as EUROPEAN LEADERS TRY ONCE MORE TO REACH AGREEMENT WITH TURKEY OVER THE THOUSANDS OF REFUGEES AND MIGRANTS CROSSING FROM THE COUNTRY INTO EUROPE. Last year a joint action plan was agreed with the aim of keeping more refugees outside of Europe. The EU PLEDGED €3BN FOR HOUSING AND FOOD FOR THE ESTIMATED THREE MILLION REFUGEes currently living in Turkey, in return for a clampdown on people smugglers. This route is now closed. The EU will stand by Greece in this difficult moment and will do it utmost to help manage the situation. EU leaders are in a panic to stop refugee flows before spring, and they seem willing to throw human rights overboard in the process. It is naked self-interest and wishful thinking to say Turkey is a safe country of asylum – it is not, and this deal could cause much more harm than good. Continue reading...
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