TEMPO.CO, Brussels - Leaders of the European Union aim to sign an agreement with Turkey in Brussels on Sunday that offers Ankara cash and closer ties with the EU in return for Turkish help in stemming the flow of migrants to Europe.
Aware of a sense of desperation in Europe for a solution to a crisis that is tearing the bloc apart following the arrival of close to a million people this year, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has been driving a hard bargain and diplomats said the 28 states had struggled through Saturday to agree a final offer.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is due to meet the 28 EU national leaders for three hours from 4 p.m. (1500 GMT).
The Europeans, and none more so than German Chancellor Angela Merkel, are under pressure to manage the biggest influx of people since World War Two, the bulk of them to Germany, where Merkel is pushing hard for a Turkish deal. The crisis has helped populist opponents and set nations against each other, straining the open borders cherished by the Union's members.
Measures the EU has taken in recent months have as yet done little to control movements and while winter weather may lower the numbers for a few months, it is also worsening the plight of tens of thousands stuck by closing borders in the Balkans, piling further pressure on European leaders to find a solution.
Sunday's summit, called just days ago as Brussels tried to clinch a deal offered over a month ago, has been complicated by Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane on the Syrian border.
That has in turn complicated European efforts to re-engage with Moscow, despite a continued frost over Ukraine, in order to try and advance a peace in Syria that could both end the flight of refugees and contain Islamic State. The Islamist group's attack on Paris two weeks ago has also heightened public calls in the EU for more controls on people arriving from Syria.
By late on Saturday, after a further meeting of EU envoys in Brussels, diplomats said a common EU offer that they hope will secure Davutoglu's signature was agreed. It should be approved by governments on Sunday before the summit.
There remains a degree of nervousness, however, that Turkey could hold out for more - a nervousness heightened by Erdogan's decision not to attend himself but to send his prime minister.
"The Turks always negotiate to the last second," one senior EU diplomat said. "Why should this time be different?"
REUTERS
