BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — A two-day European Council summit on migration opened in Brussels on Thursday. EU leaders are expected to reach agreement later in the day on the EU-Turkey action plan, which envisions a one-for-one exchange of undocumented migrants for approved refugees.
"If in this bilateral format [the parties] reach a common understanding, agree on the text [of the agreement], [European Council President Donald] Tusk in this case will convene the leaders of the 28 EU countries for a meeting [without the Turkish prime minister] to reaffirm this arrangement… After that, if the EU countries agree with the EU-Turkey statement, then there will be a meeting of the 28 leaders with the Turkish prime minister," the source said.
In return, the European Union pledged to provide 3 billion euros (over $3.3 billion) to Turkey to help it to deal with the undocumented migrants, with the provision of an additional 3 billion-euro allocation among other possible measures.