View from London: Leading on foreign responses
London has steered clear of internal EU divisions over burden sharing, but is willing to engage externally on refugee crisis
London has steered clear of internal EU divisions over burden sharing, but is willing to engage externally on refugee crisis
Summit viewed as a win for Europe, but concerns linger over Turkish accession in hostile France
Italy wants to look outward to tackle refugee crisis, but domestic criticism over Turkey’s role
Germany pushed for Turkey summit, but important questions remain over internal burden sharing
After the EU-Turkey summit on 29 November, Europe’s leaders unveiled a package of measures to encourage Turkey to keep Syrian refugees within their borders, thus stemming the flow into Europe.
€3 billion will be given to Ankara to help meet the cost of hosting refugees and, in what Turkish PM Ahmet Davotoğlu described as an “historic” occasion, various other EU perks were dangled in front of Turkey, including the prospect of visa-free travel and the resuscitation of Turkey’s moribund EU accession process.
How have Europe’s capitals responded? How is the likelihood of success perceived? And will the reopening of the Turkish membership question come back to haunt EU governments facing a hostile public?
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