EU and Turkish ministers will meet later today in Brussels for an EU – Turkey intergovernmental conference, followed by the opening of chapter 17 (economic and monetary policy) of the accession process.

The EU 28 have decided to energize the accession negotiations, after an emergency meeting seeking an effective refugee crisis response. The last meeting of the Accession Conference was held on 5 November 2013 and the 53rd and last EU-Turkey Association Council on 18 May 2015 to review EU-Turkey relations, the accession process and EU-Turkey foreign policy dialog on several issues of common interest Syria and Iraq among them.

A joint press conference is foreseen at 18:00 CET.

Tomorrow EU ministers will discuss a regulation text proposed by the European Commission and the Council of Permanent Representatives on burden sharing of the 3 billion euro of humanitarian aid, pledged by the EU Summit to Turkey. According to senior diplomatic source, it remains unclear if the member states are willing to chip in 2 billion euro and agree on terms over visa facilitation for Turkish citizens.