The last European Summit was held yesterday, 29 November, in Brussels. European Union leaders met with the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to discuss about the migrant situation, since the massive flow of migrants coming from Syria is putting through the wringer EU countries.

European countries seek in Turkey an ally to control the migrants’ flow, and as stated by the Summit chairman Donald Tusk “our main goal is to stem off the flow of migrants”, adding that “this is not a simple, trivial trade-off”, in reference to the agreement with Turkey.

Turkey will help EU to restrain the migrants’ flow, in exchange for visa-free travel to Schengen countries within a year, if Turkey will meet certain conditions. Moreover negotiations about Turkey’s EU membership will start again, and the country will receive from European countries 3 billion euros, in order to aid the 2,2 million Syrian refugees now in Turkey. “As Turkey is making an effort to take in refugees, it’s reasonable that Turkey receives help from Europe to accommodate those refugees” underlined President Hollande.

Nevertheless doubts have arisen regarding EU collaboration with Turkey. The downing of the Russian jet by Turkish aircrafts put into question Turkey’s position in the fight against ISIL. There are clear evidences about Turkey’s involvement in oil trade with the Islamic State. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev stated that some Turkish officials are involved in the illegal oil trade, and Russia’s air strikes in Syria have destroyed oil tanks and refineries, damaging Turkish economic interests.

German media have recently put into question Merkel’s participation to Sunday’s Summit. As reported by Deutsche Wirschafts Nachrichten, a possible agreement between Turkey and EU would mean “the end of Europe”. Europe needs Turkey’s help to deal with the massive migrants’ flow, and in exchange for it European Union is ready to fund Turkey, without any guarantee that this money will be used to help migrants and not to fund terrorism, so that European taxpayers will turn into sponsors of terrorism, the article read.

Isabella MILAN ALBERTIN