EU-Turkey cooperation on migration should be uncoupled from the EU accession negotiating process, say Foreign Affairs Committee MEPs in a repor voted on Tuesday. MEP praise Turkey for hosting the largest refugee population in the world, and note that it remains a "key strategic partner for the EU" but nonetheless call for progress on rule of law and fundamental values and "a more structured and frequent political dialogue on key thematic issues".

Today the European Commission announces €445 million in humanitarian aid for the Syria crisis in 2016.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė extended condolences to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey over the dozens of victims killed and many more injured by the terror attack in Ankara.

Italian PhD student Giulio Regeni was investigating trade unions in Egypt when he went missing on 25 January 2016. His body, bearing signs of torture, was discovered nine days later in Cairo. Media and human rights activists suspect Egyptian security forces may have been involved, which the Egyptian authorities deny. On 10 March MEPs debated the case and adopted a resolution as part of their regular efforts to call attention to flagrant human rights violations around the world.

European Union justice ministers on March 11th adopted a general approach on the directive on combatting terrorism, including serious cyber crimes.

Continuity, relevance and impact: according to Michael O'Flaherty, the new director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), these are the priorities of the Council Working Party on Fundamental Rights, Citizens Rights and Free Movement of Persons (FREMP). Mr O'Flaherty was speaking on 8 March, at the first meeting of the Working Party to be held during the Netherlands Presidency.

Parliament condemns the deteriorating climate for the media and free speech in Kazakhstan, the torture and assassination under suspicious circumstances of EU citizen Giulio Regeni in Egypt, and the worsening security and human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in three resolutions voted on Thursday.

We strongly condemn the terrorist attack that took place yesterday in the Tunisian town of Ben Gardane and offer condolences to the families of the victims.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė is attending the EU-Turkey summit in Brussels. EU leaders and Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu are discussing how to speed up the implementation of the EU-Turkey Action Plan in order to stem the flow of migrants to Europe.

Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos welcomes the European Parliament's stronger involvement in monitoring the financial assistance programme for Greece, he told Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee MEPs in an economic dialogue meeting on Wednesday. "We need an honest broker, representing different views from different political perspectives, to examine the economic and social impact of the programme", he said, referring to the new EP working group on macro-economic adjustment programmes.