Brussels, 25/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - During a high-level political dialogue in Ankara on Monday 25 January, European representatives and the Turkish authorities recognised that the effort needed to facilitate the insertion of refugees in Turkey and stem the flow of migrants to the EU was still “enormous”.
As regards migration, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said that the key aspect is to implement the November 2015 EU-Turkey plan “totally” (see EUROPE 11441). She said she was very confident in the EU's ability to find an agreement on how to finance this €3 billion action plan.
Italy is the only country to block the proposal on the table regarding the financing of the action plan. This provides for a €1 billon contribution from the EU budget - the rest being the responsibility of the national budgets (see EUROPE 11469). The issue could be unblocked at a meeting between Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Friday 29 January.
Turkey's Minister for Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu stated that any delay in decision-making on this issue would affect the everyday life (as regards education and health) of the 2.5 million refugees that Turkey is hosting. European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn described the recent Turkish legislation allowing Syrian refugees access to Turkey's labour market as “a significant step”. He noted that the Syrians now accounted for less than 40% of the refugees entering the EU from Turkey.
In their joint statement, the EU and Turkey underlined the need to cooperate on setting up refugee resettlement programmes directly in Turkey “in a spirit of burden sharing”. They also agree on the importance of strengthening the interception capacity of the Turkish coast guard.
Dominated by the issue of migration, the high-level political dialogue permitted all issues to be addressed, enabling relations between Turkey and the EU to be reinvigorated.
As regards opening new EU accession negotiation chapters, Hahn stated that work was ongoing (see EUROPE 11454). Chapters 23 on the judicial apparatus and fundamental rights, and 24 on freedom, security and justice must be part of the chapters to be opened, he said, underlining the importance for Turkey of moving forward with respect to the freedom of expression and assembly, and independence of the judicial system.
The EU and Turkey reiterate their commitment to working towards the lifting of visas for Turkish nationals entering the EU by October 2016, if all the conditions are met.
Turkey's Minister for European Affairs Volkan Bozkir spoke of the review of the customs union between the two partners. The services sector and public procurement must be part of this, he thought. He hoped that as part of the trade negotiations between the EU and the USA, Turkey might be recognised as an integrating part of this union. In this area, the European Commission will provide the Council of the EU with an impact study by the end of the year. A high-level dialogue on energy will take place with European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Canete on Thursday 28 January.
As regards foreign affairs, the EU and Turkey continue with their joint objective of facilitating the beginning of intra-Syrian discussions, if possible by the end of January. The search for a political way out of the crisis is the best means of improving the humanitarian situation on the ground and uniting forces to bring an end to ISIL and the al Nusra Front, Mogherini stated.
Both parties agreed to renew their unity in the fight against terrorism “in all its forms”, especially against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK.).
A new meeting of this kind will be “probably” be held in May, according to Bozkir. This will be with a view to preparing the next EU-Turkey summit - the date of which is as yet unknown. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)