EU hopes for Turkish help to slow migrants at summit

Aware of a sense of desperation in Europe for a solution to a crisis that is tearing the bloc apart following the arrival of close to a million people this year, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has been driving a hard bargain and diplomats said the 28 states had struggled through November 28 to agree a final offer.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is due to meet the 28 EU national leaders for three hours from 4 p.m. (1500 GMT).

The Europeans, and none more so than German Chancellor Angela Merkel, are under pressure to manage the biggest influx of people since World War Two, the bulk of them to Germany, where Merkel is pushing hard for a Turkish deal. The crisis has helped populist opponents and set nations against each other, straining the open borders cherished by the Union's members.

Measures the EU has taken in recent months have as yet done little to control movements and while winter weather may lower the numbers for a few months, it is also worsening the plight of tens of thousands stuck by closing borders in the Balkans, piling further pressure on European leaders to find a solution.

November 29's summit, called just days ago as Brussels tried to clinch a deal offered over a month ago, has been complicated by Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane on the Syrian border.

By late on November 28, after a further meeting of EU envoys in Brussels, diplomats said a common EU offer that they hope will secure Davutoglu's signature was agreed. It should be approved by governments on November 29 before the summit.

Europeans want Turkey to spend new EU money - some EUR3 billion (US$3.2 billion) for the next year or two - on improving life for the 2.3 million Syrians now living in Turkey so that they are less likely to take to boats for nearby Greek islands.