EU leaders and Turkey strike deal on curbing flow of migrants to Europe

Heads of states and governments of the EU and Turkish premier Ahmet Davutoglu in Brussels on Sunday finalized an agreement on stemming the flow of migrants to the EU. Under the deal, the EU is to pay “an initial” 3 billion euros in aid for the 2.2 million Syrians now in Turkey. Furthermore, the EU leaders offered a “re-energized” negotiating process on Turkish membership of the EU. The Turks could also benefit from visa-free travel to Europe's Schengen zone within a year if Turkey meets conditions on tightening its borders for migrants in the east and moves other benchmarks on reducing departures to the EU. See also our cepInput on the empirical and legal aspects of the refugee crisis.