Brussels, 09/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - Home Secretaries and Ministers for Justice from EU member states will be meeting up in Brussels on Thursday 10 and Friday 11 March to put forward a number of legislative dossiers. They will, above all, be expected to take some action on outlining the agreement they reached at the EU-Turkey summit on Monday 7 March, which involves sending migrants who have illegally arrived in the EU back to Turkey (see EUROPE 11506).
Three days after the summit, EU Home Secretaries are subsequently expected to discuss the practical modalities of such an agreement, at dinner on Thursday. The objective is not to undermine the agreement, explained one European source. A decision needs to be made on what logistical support should be given to Greece from whence, according to the draft agreement, the migrants who have illegally arrived there, should be returned to Turkey. This discussion may possibly focus on questions such as what deadline should be granted to migrants when being returned to Turkey and the way in which the returns are organised from the Greek islands, explained a European source. The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) and the Frontex agency may find itself overwhelmed in the practical participation of these provisions.
Ministers will also be expecting their Greek colleague to inform them about the results from the meeting between the Greek and Turkish Prime Ministers, Alexis Tsipras and Ahmet Davutoglu, which took place on Tuesday 8 March in Izmir, Turkey. The two leaders made a commitment to step up their cooperation at this meeting.
Despite the many questions raised by the different NGOs and the High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi (see EUROPE 11507), the ministers are not expected to tackle the question of the legality of this kind of agreement being prepared by the EU and Turkey. Some of them consider that this agreement would be incompatible with international law and that this refoulement is a practice prescribed by EU and international law.
On Monday evening at the end of the EU-Turkey Summit, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, drew on Articles 33 and 38 from the directive on asylum procedures (2013/32/EU). According to the latter, a member state can refuse to treat a demand for asylum on their soil if the demand for asylum has been processed in another third country and it has been described as safe. This is in fact the case for Turkey, which is recognised as such by Greece. Article 38 of the directive in question stipulates that a safe country is a country that has ratified the Geneva Convention of 1951 on refugees and has adopted its definition of non-refoulement.
Moreover, although Turkey has ratified this Convention and its additional protocol on asylum, it has inserted a geographical reservation. This implies that the asylum procedure in it is complicated and differentiated on the basis of the asylum seekers' origin: only people coming from a member country of the Council of Europe can be recognised as refugees. There is another status of “conditional refugee” for non-Europeans but this only provides a limited stay in Turkey, while waiting for resettlement elsewhere and without a guarantee of access to the labour market, explained the Centre for Information, Discussion and Exchange on Asylum (CIRE).
The Home Secretaries are therefore not expected to spend much time on the legal aspects of this draft agreement. The Commission has continued to push forward the message that the draft agreement, which will be finalised for the European Council on 17 March, will fully comply with international law.
At the same time as this discussion, ministers are still expected to touch on the question of the pace of progress with the EU relocation mechanism. 885 people out of 160,000 have been relocated up until now, including 536 in Greece and 349 from Italy, according to the most recent figures provided by the Commission. Syrians, Iraqis and Eritreans who are in the Greek islands are expected to be relocated to other member states, even if there are questions regarding a possible retroactive aspect to this provision being examined in respect to sending migrants back to Turkey.
Ministers are also expected to draw up a balance sheet on the progress made with the proposal on the European coast and border guards, which are supposed to replace Frontex. The Dutch Presidency of the Council would like to comprehensively conclude the dossier, including the discussions with the European Parliament, by summer 2016.
Ministers are also expected to reach a political agreement on the directive on terrorism. This is expected to define the notion of “foreign combatant” and criminalise throughout the EU assistance provided for leaving to combat zones or terrorist organisations' training camps. They will also debate the draft directive on arms trafficking in the EU.
On Friday, ministers will tackle the issue of the European Prosecutor's Office (budgetary section). Their agenda also includes the presentation of two other directives involving civil law: one involves digital content and the other e-commerce. During dinner, they will also be informed about the recent agreement reached between the EU and the US on personal data transfers for trade purposes (see EUROPE 11501). (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic and Maelle Didion)