Dutch PM urges Turkey to cut migrant flows towards zero

BRUSSELS: Turkey must ensure the number of refugees and migrants leaving its shores for Europe drops towards zero, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said ahead of a meeting of EU and Turkish leaders on Monday.

The 28-nation bloc is pushing for more effective implementation of a deal under which Ankara is due to cut the number of arrivals and help alleviate what has turned into a major migration crisis for the EU.

"We need to bring it back to a level from which we can see zero. It has to be really considerably lower than it is today," Rutte, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said in an interview with Reuters and two other media outlets.

EU leaders are scrambling to prevent a repeat of the chaotic arrivals last summer, which has pushed Europe´s cherished free-travel Schengen zone to the verge of collapse, raised security concerns and fuelled support for nationalists and anti-migrant groups across the bloc.

Rutte also called for an agreement to "accelerate readmission of third country nationals and economic migrants. I think that would be the minimum outcome."

He said Turkey had to do more to stop smugglers taking people on the short but perilous trip across the Aegean Sea to Greece.

EU leaders and officials in Brussels have warned that the Monday summit and another one among EU leaders on Mar.17-18 form the last chance to get the migration crisis under control.

"And I hope we can come to an agreement on resettlement: that, for a couple weeks, we can assess that the numbers coming from Turkey to Greece are really coming down, with the zero being visible, so that it is possible for the EU to start a more ambitious resettlement programme. So a minimum outcome and a preferred outcome."