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[h=4]EU leaders to consider Turkey's offer for help to halt wave of migrants[/h]European<span style="color: Red;">*</span>leaders met into the night on Monday in an emergency summit in Brussels to find ways to stem the flow of migrants<span style="color: Red;">*</span>continuing<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to arrive on the continent, with one official saying early Tuesday that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>negotiators had struck a "breakthrough" dea
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Athens says it now has nearly 32,000 migrants on its territory, after Austria and Balkan states began restricting entries, creating a bottleneck in Greece. The situation is particularly stark at Greece's border with Macedonia. Newslook
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, arrives for an EU summit in Brussels on Monday, March 7, 2016.(Photo: Geert Vanden Wijngaert, AP)
An emergency summit of European<span style="color: Red;">*</span>leaders in Brussels ended early Tuesday with an agreement to stem the flow of migrants<span style="color: Red;">*</span>continuing<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to arrive on the continent, with one official saying<span style="color: Red;">*</span>negotiators had struck a "breakthrough" deal with Turkey for greater aid in the effort.
European Union (EU) leaders agreed to follow up by next week on Turkish proposals to halt departures of all migrants and refugees to Greece in return for EU actions, Reuters reported.
“This is a welcome approach,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, but added “it needs more time” for the member states to fully approve it.
After the summit concluded, Luxembourg's Prime Minister, Xavier Bettel, tweeted that summit chairman Donald Tusk "will take forward the proposals and work out the details with the Turkish side" before the March 17-18 summit of EU leaders, a long-scheduled meeting.
During Monday's 12-hour summit, Martin Selmayr, chief of staff for the president of the European Commission, had<span style="color: Red;">*</span>tweeted, "Good progress in difficult European Council talks on solving the refugee crisis. A breakthrough during this night is possible."
A few hours later, just after midnight, he<span style="color: Red;">*</span>tweeted: "Deal. Breakthrough with Turkey. And clear commitment to go back to Schengen by the end of the year."
The so-called Schengen Agreement, which took effect in 1995,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>abolished the European Union's (EU) internal borders, enabling passport-free movement across most countries.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said that “we do have the basis for a breakthrough which is the possibility that in future all migrants who arrive in Greece will be returned to Turkey.”
EU leaders had earlier said they needed more time to consider a plan<span style="color: Red;">*</span>offered by Turkey to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>help to halt the wave of migrants in return for more money, faster membership talks and quicker visa-free travel for its citizens, Reuters reported.
Good progress in difficult European Council talks on solving the refugee crisis. A breakthrough during this night is possible.
— Martin Selmayr (@MartinSelmayr) March 7, 2016
Deal. Breakthrough with Turkey. And clear commitment to go back to Schengen by the end of the year.
— Martin Selmayr (@MartinSelmayr) March 7, 2016
At a preparatory meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Sunday night, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu<span style="color: Red;">*</span>demanded the equivalent of more than the $3.29 billion earmarked so far to support Syrian refugees in Turkey.
"Turkey is ready to be a member of the EU as well," he said. "Today I hope this summit will not just focus on irregular migration but also the Turkish accession process to the EU."
Diplomats said Merkel and Rutte pressed hard for a deal on the Turkish plan but met resistance from central European states opposed to taking refugee quotas, as well as from Greece and Cyprus.
Several leaders said the offer of increased cooperation coincided with a crackdown on media freedom that runs counter to European values. The Turkish government seized best-selling opposition newspaper Zaman last Friday, Reuters reported.
European<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Council President Donald Tusk last week had visited countries on the western Balkans route, the main route taken by migrants to northern Europe, to try and build a consensus ahead of the talks.
The EU intends to close the route, which Tusk said 880,000 migrants entered in 2015 and 128,000 in the first two months of this year. The decision carries immediate ramifications with 13,000 to 14,000 migrants now stranded on the Greek-Macedonian border awaiting the council's decision, according to media reports.
The tough<span style="color: Red;">*</span>negotiations between European countries and Turkey are at the core of the talks.
The United Nations refugee agency estimates that more that 1 million migrants arrived by sea on European shores last year, the vast majority traveling from Turkey to Greece. Some 46% were from Syria. There have been nearly<span style="color: Red;">*</span>140,000 more migrants so far this year, the agency says.
Tusk said despite some progress, the number of people illegally entering Greece from Turkey remained<span style="color: Red;">*</span>too high. Most migrants fleeing conflict in countries including Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan arrive in Greece by boat from Turkey.
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Tusk said he and Davutoglu believed that economic migrants should be returned to Turkey. “The political will is there, but it poses a logistical challenge, in which we have to support Greece,” he said.
The leaders of the 28-nation bloc were also discussing increasing humanitarian aid to refugees.
The EU's executive proposed<span style="color: Red;">*</span>last week to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>provide $760 million over the next three years<span style="color: Red;">*</span>for basic necessities<span style="color: Red;">*</span>like food, shelter, clean water and emergency health care. The EU has also pledged more than $3 billion in aid for refugees in Turkey. More than 2 million Syrian refugees are living there.
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"For the first time since the beginning of the migration crisis, I can see a European consensus emerging,” Tusk said. “It is a consensus around a comprehensive strategy that, if loyally implemented, can help stem the flows and tackle the crisis.”
Davutoglu said he hoped the summit would also address Turkey’s desired membership of the EU.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country took in more than 1 million asylum seekers last year, said achieving the goals would “take difficult negotiations so it may take a while to get a result."
EU figures released Friday showed a record<span style="color: Red;">*</span>1.26 million<span style="color: Red;">*</span>asylum seekers registered in EU member states in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>2015.
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Contributing: AP, Greg Toppo, USA TODAY
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