Tiny Cyprus heads into this week’s European Union-Turkey summit facing intense pressure to pave the way for a crucial deal to control the inflow of migrants and preserve the fractured bloc’s unity. Picture: AP

Leaders from 29 countries will meet at the end of this week to nut out a solution to Europe’s migrant crisis that has seen more than one million people arrive on the continent in the last year.

It’s the second part of a summit that opened 10 days ago and is based around a “one-for-one” swap that will see one Syrian refugees resettled in Europe for every new arrival in Greece returned to Turkey, capped at 72,000 people.

It’s designed to stop overwhelming numbers of people travelling to Europe by boat — averaging 1800 a day in February alone — in a policy reminiscent of Australian efforts to “stop the boats” and “smash the people’s smugglers business model” under former Prime Ministers Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard.

EU leaders are in a difficult position between helping Greece and not breaking international law by returning refugees to Turkey. Picture: Carl Court/Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

In exchange, Turkey wants up to $8.89 billion (EUR6 billion) to deal with the estimated 2.7 million Syrian refugees inside the country. It also wants Europe to fast-track a plan for visa-free travel for around 70 million Turks to Europe’s Schengen zone and a renewed push on efforts for the country to be admitted to the European Union as a full member.

It’s a high price to pay for European leaders struggling to regain the upper hand in what has become the largest refugee movement since World War II and unleashed a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment in many countries.

But as the BBC’s Mark Mardell put it, when it comes to how to solve the crisis, “Turkey has the European Union over a barrel” in a situation where it is both “lock” and “key” to the result.

‘BREAK THE BUSINESS MODEL’

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said he wants to use the summit to smash the link between getting on a boat and being resettled in Europe, and has deployed naval ships in the Aegean Sea as part of an international effort to stop those trying to cross.

“This migration crisis is the greatest challenge facing Europe today,” he said. “We’ve got to break the business model of the criminal smugglers and stop the desperate flow of people crammed into makeshift vessels from embarking on a fruitless and perilous journey.”

But the plan has proved hugely controversial and been rejected outright by some European leaders like Hungary’s Viktor Orban who said they would not commit to resettling any refugees.

Czech president Milos Zemand said Turkey’s request for billions in aid money and fast-tracking of visa rights is tantamount to “blackmail”, while Cyprus has threatened to veto it if Turkey continues not to recognise the island state.

Children at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece. Charity groups say plans to return refugees make a mockery of human rights. Picture: AP Photo/Vadim GhirdaSource:AP

The plan has also been declared illegal under international law by UN Human Rights boss Zeid Raad Al Hussein, who was worried about collective expulsions.

Amnesty International has also called it a “death blow” to be “effectively horse trading away the rights and dignity of some of the world’s most vulnerable people.”

Ahead of the meeting, European Commission President Donald Tusk said there is a huge “catalogue of issues” to be resolved and he was “more cautious than optimistic” about the hopes for success.

However German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said it’s the “first real chance” to find an ending to the crisis that could be set to dominate another northern summer.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will join the talks on Friday where a joint statement between Turkey and the EU is expected to be delivered.