Merkel Backs EU Plan to Offer Turkey Up to €3bn to Curb Refugee Flow

Angela Merkel's government has given its backing to a multi-billion euro action plan aimed at encouraging Turkey to cooperate on tighter border controls in an effort to drastically curb the number of refugees and migrants entering the EU. The plan includes offering Ankara up to €3bn to improve the care of refugees, visa-free travel to Europe for Turks from 2016, and the resumption of frozen negotiations on Turkey's EU membership bid.

Key Takeaways:

• The EU plan includes offering Turkey up to €3bn to improve the care of refugees, with €500m of that to come from the EU's budget.
• Angela Merkel has stressed that a much larger sum had been considered and that it is only realistic to think in terms of much larger amounts due to the scale of the crisis.
• Turkey has already spent €7bn over the past few years on caring for refugees, and Merkel has argued that the EU should shoulder a comparable sum.
• Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European commission, has said that the aim of the proposed pact is to keep more than 2 million Syrian refugees in Turkey and prevent them attempting to get to Europe.
• Merkel will visit Turkey on Sunday for talks with Erdogan and Davutoglu, amid growing criticism of her plan to negotiate with the increasingly authoritarian Turkish president.
• Human rights organizations have warned that safe country status would effectively bar Turks and Kurds from applying for asylum in Germany, trapping refugees in Turkey where they face a dismal human rights record.
• Merkel has repeatedly referred to Turkey's strategic and pivotal role in the current situation, saying Germany, which is estimated to expect up to 1.5 million refugees this year, ignores Turkey at its peril.

Statistics:

• Up to €3bn to be offered to Turkey to improve care of refugees
• €500m allocated from the EU's budget
• €7bn spent by Turkey in the past few years on caring for refugees
• 2 million Syrian refugees in Turkey
• 1.5 million refugees expected in Germany this year
• 700,000 refugees who have entered the EU this year, with Turkey being the main source

Sources:

• German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as quoted in the article.
• Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, as quoted in the article.
• Professor Cengiz Aktar, a commentator on EU relations at Istanbul's Bahcesehir University, as quoted in the article.
• Emma Sinclair-Webb, a senior Turkey researcher for Human Rights Watch, as quoted in the article.
• Various unnamed officials and experts in Berlin, Brussels and Istanbul, as quoted in the article.
• The Guardian, Spiegel, DLF, and other unnamed sources, as mentioned in the article.