EU And Turkey Strike £2.1bn Migration Deal

The European Union has agreed a deal with Turkey to control the continued flow of migrants and refugees into Europe.

Under the agreement, which was sealed at a Sunday evening summit in Brussels, Turkey will receive €3bn (£2.1bn) of EU funds as well as a reinvigorated discussion about its possible membership of the EU and the prospect of visa-free travel for its citizens into the EU.

In return, Turkey will use the €3bn to put in place measures to slow the movement of migrants across its borders into the EU.

The Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, who is in Brussels, described the deal as a "new beginning" in the relationship between Turkey and the EU.

The €3bn, which will be paid in instalments dependent on Turkish progress, is intended to persuade some of the two million Syrian refugees to stay in Turkey rather than travelling to Europe as most are currently doing.

The EU expects the money to be used to improve living conditions in camps, accelerate integration programmes, as well as funding schools, hospitals and housing to support refugees living in Turkey.

As part of the deal, Turkish citizens could benefit from visa-free travel within Europe's Schengen zone within a year as long as Turkey strengthens its eastern borders to slow or stop the movement of economic migrants towards Europe.

From the outset it was clear that the EU and Turkey had entirely separate objectives to achieve from the summit.

The EU countries want to control the continued flow of migrants, most of whom travel through Turkey.

Aware that the EU needed his country's help in solving the migrant crisis, Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan saw an opportunity and, say sources, drove a hard bargain.

For many years, Turkey has aspired to become a member of the EU but negotiations in recent years have stalled with numerous EU members concerned about Turkey's questionable human rights record and press freedoms.

Now, those concerns, while still there, will not stop a new chapter in Turkey's accession process from beginning.

Mr Davutoglu emerged from his car at the start of the summit with a broad smile and spoke of a "historic day" - a clear indication at the outset that, for Turkey, this was a good deal.

He said: "Today is a historic day in our accession process to the EU. I am grateful to all European leaders for this new beginning."

Speaking after the summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel confirmed that the EU would open Chapter 17 of Turkey's accession negotiations this year and would speed up visa-free travel for Turks if existing conditions are met.

EU sources have insisted that the money for Turkey and the prospect of visa-free movement for Turkish nationals are entirely dependent on Turkish progress in slowing the migrant flow.

And EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker rejected suggestions that the EU had put aside its concerns over Turkey's human rights record, press freedom and increasingly authoritarian rule just to solve the migration crisis.

Mr Juncker said the deal "would not lead to a situation where we forget about the main differences and divergences we have with Turkey - human rights and freedom of the press."

David Cameron and European Council President Donald Tusk held talks on Britain's renegotiation of its EU membership on the sidelines of the main summit.

A Downing Street spokesperson said: "The Prime Minister and the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, discussed the UK renegotiation in a bilateral meeting after the EU-Turkey summit.

"They agreed that we continue to make good progress. While some areas are more difficult than others, discussions are ongoing with Member States to find solutions and agree reforms in all four areas outlined in the PM's letter to the European Council President.

"These discussions will continue in the coming days, including with bilaterals between the PM and other European leaders in Paris tomorrow, and all EU leaders will have a substantive discussion of the UK renegotiation at next month's European Council as planned."