European Union–Turkey relations

The European Commission is preparing new additional aid of 500m euro for Syrian refugees in Turkey, as well as a number of other measures to ease tensions with Ankara, an EU source quoted by France Press reported.

As thousands of people near Turkey's border with Greece wait to cross over to the European Union, a migration deal the EU and Turkey reached four years ago has become a political football.The two sides accuse each other of failing to respect their commitments.

"There is a triple network. The first is that the Greek government, unlike earlier, is determined to defend the external border of the EU.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias is heading to Croatia on Thursday to attend the informal meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers, also known as Gymnich, in the context of Croatia's Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

European Union ambassadors voiced outrage at a meeting this week over what they see as an attempt by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to "blackmail" the bloc by allowing migrants to mass at Greece's border, diplomatic sources said.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he told Turkey on Wednesday that the situation at the border with Greece was unacceptable and Turkey should not encourage further movement of migrants towards the border with EU states.

Speaking after talks with President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, he described their meeting as long and profitable.

The European Commission has today called on Turkey to return to compliance with the bilateral migration agreement. Commission spokesmen declined to give a clear answer on whether Ankara violated Art. 3 of the agreement, which stipulates that Turkey will take all necessary steps to prevent the emergence of new roads to the EU by land and water for migrants.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in Istanbul on Saturday that 18,000 migrants had crossed the border, without providing evidence, adding that the number could rise to 25,000-30,000 on Saturday.

Turkish Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan has told the ambassadors of EU countries in Ankara that Turkey is waiting for the European Commission to renew the 1996 customs union agreement.

"Your contributions in this sense are exceptionally important. We invite you to work with the business world," she said at a meeting with the EU Delegation to Turkey on Feb. 26.

It has by now become common knowledge that the management of the refugee and migrant crisis exceeds Greece's capabilities.

The phenomenon is continually burgeoning with repercussions for both local populations and for refugees and migrants who are living in miserable and inhuman conditions.