BRUSSELS/ISTANBUL: The European Commission set out a timetable on Friday for restoring open borders in Europe by the end of the year as EU leaders cajoled Turkey to act to stop the flow of migrants fleeing conflicts in the Middle East and beyond.

Ahead of an emergency European Union summit with Turkey on Monday, the EU executive announced the first payouts from a 3 billion euro ($3.3 billion) fund to help it cope with the roughly 2.5 million Syrian migrants on Turkish soil.

It also said Turkey was making progress towards achieving eagerly sought visa liberalisation for its citizens in the EU.

In return, Brussels is demanding that Ankara crack down on people smuggling and take back all illegal migrants who do not qualify for asylum in the 28-nation EU.

Meeting in Paris, the leaders of Germany and France agreed that refugees fleeing war in Syria should stay in the region and said their common objective was to put Europe’s frayed Schengen passport-free travel agreement back into operation.

“Our efforts are not done yet,” Chancellor Angela Merkel told a joint news conference with President Francois Hollande. “I understand that Turkey also expects Europe to deliver.” Merkel pressed for Monday’s summit with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in an effort to show results before three regional elections on March 13 in which her conservatives face losses to the anti-migration Alternative for Germany party.

EU head Donald Tusk met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks to tackle the migrant crisis, as new figures showed a record 1.2 million asylum seekers reached the bloc in 2015.

The EU president — who has said the numbers arriving from Turkey are “far too high” — was to push Erdogan for more intensive help in handling the crisis, after bluntly warning economic migrants to stay away from Europe.

The “roadmap” includes quickly creating an EU coastguard system and strengthening Greece’s external border, the main point of entry for refugees and migrants fleeing war, persecution and poverty in the Middle East and beyond.

As the diplomatic efforts went into high gear ahead of a March 7 summit between the EU and Turkey, the human misery along the Greek-Macedonia border worsened after a night of driving rain and plummeting temperatures.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2016