Brussels, 22/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and the European Commissioners for Neighbourhood Policy and Humanitarian Aid - Johannes Hahn and Christos Stylianides respectively - will travel to Turkey on Monday 25 and Tuesday 26 January to meet the country's leaders and assess the situation of the refugees there and the EU-financed projects.
Mogherini and Hahn will take part in a high-level meeting with the Turkish authorities in Ankara. This meeting will be the opportunity to discuss common challenges, the European Commission stated on Friday 22 January. Visits with NGOs and civil society representatives are also planned. In addition, Mogherini and Stylianides are due to travel to south-east Turkey, where the situation between Ankara and the majority Kurdish population continues to worsen.
This visit comes against a backdrop of great tension between the EU and Ankara, with several European leaders - including Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country currently holds the Presidency of the Council of the EU - having said that it is urgent to reduce migrant flows to Europe from Turkey significantly within six to eight weeks (see EUROPE 11472). European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans has also recently deplored Turkey's scant progress in trying to stem this flow of migrants.
The negotiations between the member states on the €3 billion package granted to Ankara as part of the joint EU-Turkey action plan remain sensitive and complex (see EUROPE 11469). The recent statements from Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu are not expected to make this cooperation any easier. On Thursday 21 January, Davutoglu said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos that the €3 billion package was not enough to help Turkey meet the migration challenge. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)