Borissov and Erdogan Talk before the Official EU-Turkey Meeting

The EU-Turkey leaders’meeting starts at 19:00 in Bulgaria’s coastal city of Varna. The meeting is accompanied by the hope to solve important issues for the region and the European Union. The expectations of the participants in the talks are for difficult reaching of agreements and talks on conflicting topics.

The host of the meeting is Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, who is one of its initiators. Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, arrived in Bulgaria this afternoon. The President of the European Council Donald Tusk is already in Varna. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is expected to arrive later this evening,

The two parties join the talks with different expectations: EU urging Turkey to comply with all international agreements and the 2016 agreement on migrants and Turkey will ask for visa liberalization, update of the customs agreement, full payment of € 3 billion for refugees and another tranche of the same amount.

Before heading for Varna, the Turkish President said that membership in the European Union remains a strategic goal for Turkey. In his words, he would seek a removal of the barriers to negotiations.

The first meeting of Turkey’s President in Varna was with Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Borissov. Later, the PM spoke with Donald Tusk in a one-to-one meeting. He told Borissov that the EU highly valued Bulgaria's efforts to improve EU-Turkey relations.

Press conference with Jean-Claude Juncker, Donald Tusk, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Boyko Borissov is expected to be held after 21:00 Bulgarian time.