(Brussels) The contest is open at the European Council. The second day of the summit of the heads of State and government of the EU will be opening in the morning with a face-to-face meeting between president Donald Tusk and the Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu. Tusk (who will be with the president of the EU Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and with the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, president on duty of the EU’s cabinet) will submit to Ankara’s Prime Minister a number of proposals that have come up on the first day of the summit. The EU seems to be willing to reach an agreement: 3 billion euros to Turkey, with the chance (but not the certainty) to add another 3 to help it take up the 2.5 million refugees who have reached Turkey; returning to Turkey the Syrians who have illegally arrived in Greece; transferring an equal number (probably about 70 thousand) of refugees who are entitled to seek asylum in Europe. In addition, Turkey asks that Turkish citizens’ be given free visas for the EU as from June and – harder to get – that new chapters be opened in the negotiations for Turkey’s accession to the EU: there are a lot of doubts about this issue, and right now this has been vetoed by Cyprus, which has half its island occupied by Turkey. Yesterday, the summit issued the official “Conclusions” about economic and governance matters; no texts instead about migration, since they are actually waiting for the outcome of today’s meeting, which Davutoglu too has been invited to attend.

Last night, as she was leaving the EU Council’s premises, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke of “far from easy” ongoing negotiations. According to French president François Hollande, “there is still a lot to do”. The key mediators have been the Greek Prime Minister, Tsipras – whose country is enduring the pressure of Middle Eastern migration –, and the Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi. As springtime draws near, Renzi is deeply worried that refugees may come from Africa again. Yesterday, the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, sent a warning about such issue. Renzi extended the argument instead to the key reasons for migration, stating that, if “we want to reduce uncontrolled immigration, then the only solution is making investments in the countries they come from”.