Merkel pledges EU commitment to Turkey’s refugee pact

European countries are committed to maintaining an agreement with Turkey on refugees and do not exclude the provision of greater financial assistance to Ankara.  This was stated at a press conference in Berlin by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, commenting on the videoconference talks that took place on Tuesday between her, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

  "We also discussed the topic of migration. Today, negotiations were held between the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and the European Union’s diplomacy Josep  Borrell. Here we do not lead the negotiations, but we clearly spoke out for maintaining the agreement between the EU and Turkey," Merkel noted.  "We also expressed our readiness to provide more financial assistance if necessary," she said.

  According to the Chancellor, one should not “lose sight” of the possibility of negotiations with Ankara on the issue of the EU customs union with Turkey.

  The migration situation on the border between Greece and Turkey sharply worsened on February 28, after Ankara announced the opening of the border for migrants due to the fact that the EU does not fully support Turkey in its actions in Idlib.

  At the height of the migration crisis in 2016, Brussels and Ankara concluded an agreement according to which Turkey closed its borders with the EU for migrants, and the European Union paid 6 billion euros for this.  The EU also promised Ankara a visa-free regime, but did not keep this promise, demanding that Turkey first review its anti-terrorism legislation.