BRUSSELS—European Union leaders pushed ahead Thursday with contested plans to send tens of thousands of migrants back to Turkey amid deep divisions over how to manage Europe’s biggest refugee emergency in decades.
With European unity fraying in the face of more than 1 million migrant arrivals over the last year, Turkey — the source of most refugees heading across the sea to Greece — is seen as the key partner to contain the influx.
The U.N. refugee agency, however, has strong reservations about asylum standards in Turkey and rights groups are concerned over Ankara’s crackdown on the media and its increasingly bloody conflict with Kurdish rebels.
But the EU feels it has no better option.
“How are you going to help Greece without having an agreement with Turkey to handle the issue? Do you really want to condemn Greece to become a refugee camp for the rest of Europe?” EU Commission vice president Frans Timmermans said ahead of the two-day summit in Brussels.
