Europe struggles to make migrant deal as President Higgins warns failure to tackle crisis would be ‘catastrophic’

EU leaders struggled to fit together the jigsaw pieces of an agreement with Turkey on the migrant crisis as President Michael D Higgins warned that failure to respond would be “catastrophic”.

In an unusually blunt foray into the political sphere, President Higgins said the crisis required “political and moral leadership that is courageous and farsighted”, based on human rights and accepting moral and ethical obligations.

However, in Brussels, as EU leaders settled in for a long night of tortured negotiations, there was a chasm between what Europe was willing to give and Turkey was ready to accept.

While 44,000 refugees waited to hear their fate in Greece, the leaders of many EU countries wanted reassurance that Turkey would control their border and not allow the 1,800 that on average are crossing into Greece daily to continue.

The deal would include taking all migrants off the Greek islands and giving those who qualified asylum in the EU, while any new refugees that arrived on the islands, if they qualified for asylum, would be sent back to Turkey to UN administered sites.

Those who feared that this may not be legal under international laws were reassured that the process would be strictly according to the rules.

Refugees in Greece

However, Turkey would then be able to send bone fide Syrian refugees to Europe on a one-for-one basis. Some say the sums do not add up, as the 72,000 places member states have agreed to provide for refugees is less than a tenth of the flows from Turkey to Greece last year.

In exchange, Turkey wants 90-day visa free travel by June, something it had been promised for October, but it still has more than 30 of 70 conditions to fulfil.

Turkey also wants negotiations on their accession to the EU to be reopen but Cyprus was threatening to veto this because of the 40- year-old dispute over the division of the island.

While Commission President Jean Claude Juncker said he was “cautiously optimistic” going into the summit last night, the man chairing the leaders meeting, Donald Tusk said he was “more cautious than optimistic”.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny was subdued also saying that it was not going to be easy to solve. Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu was due to arrive in Brussels late last night but the negotiations were expected to go on through the night and no meeting would be finalised with him this morning unless a deal had been agreed between the EU leaders.

President Michael D Higgins

Paying tribute to members of the Naval Service who worked on missions in the Mediterranean, President Higgins said: “The immediate humanitarian response in which our vessels have been engaged is an essential element of what is needed – but it is not sufficient. The source of displacement must be addressed, and it is of deep concern that progress on achieving peace in Syria is so slow.

“It is a crisis that requires political and moral leadership that is courageous and far-sighted and grounded in the founding values of human rights, accepting our moral and ethical obligations in an interdependent world.”

Recognising the rescue efforts of almost 200 Irish troops who have served in the Mediterranean, he said their “courage and great spirit of humanity remind us that active citizenship will always call us to face challenges and obstacles”.

He added: “The numbers who perished at sea, a number that also continues to increase, is truly shocking, particularly when we reflect on the fact that this is a human and not a natural phenomenon.

“We can be very grateful to the crew members of our Irish naval vessels for the critical role they have played in the humanitarian search and rescue operations. Not only did you save the lives of many men, women and children, but you also served as invaluable role models to all Irish citizens and particularly to our young people.”