Brussels, 18/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - Meeting in Brussels on Thursday 17 March for the third time in a month, the 28 member states of the EU reached a common position regarding Turkey - the country with which they will try to seal an agreement on Friday 18 March to contain the migration crisis.
This common position will enable the EU28 to start negotiations in the morning in a reduced format between European Council President Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. The EU28 then hope to be able to endorse the agreement definitively later in the day.
The position decided by the EU28 on Thursday focuses on the six points that had been reached at an initial summit with Turkey on 7 March. The position is principally based on sending migrants back to Turkey who have arrived illegally in Greece, and on the almost automatic implementation of a resettlement programme for Syrians from Turkey to the EU on the basis of a one-for-one mechanism (one Syrian migrant sent back to Turkey in exchange for one Syrian refugee being resettled in the EU) (see EUROPE 11506 and 11513).
On Thursday evening, the EU28 agreed on the fact that this mechanism for sending migrants and asylum seekers back to Turkey had to be in full compliance with international law on asylum and with the procedures already existing. The EU28 also underlined the importance of involving the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and of implementing the logistical resources to help Greece deal with asylum applications and proceed with these returns to Turkey.
“There is considerable logistics work to implement this agreement”, said Belgium's Prime Minister Louis Michel, who was ready to mobilise personnel for Greece. French President François Hollande said France was ready to do the same, and underlined the need to apply procedures that might be carried out “within a very short time”.
There needs to be individual treatment for the refugees arriving on the Greek islands, said Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel. She acknowledged that this posed heavy logistical questions, with member states having to submit proposoals. The exact figures will come either on Friday or in the coming days, she added.
Among the other issues raised are that of Turkey's status of safe third country. Greece thus asked the member states to support it legally in the recogniton of this concept of safe third country being applied to Turkey.
Several member states underlined the need to make resettlement work well - a major condition for the success of this agreement. According to Merkel, once the return of refugees has started, the one-for-one exchange system needs to begin. We have not yet decided on an exact date, but once the stage of readmitting migrants to Turkey has started, the resettlement system from Turkey to the EU needs to be set up a few days afterwards, she said - otherwise Turkey will be overwhelmed with refugees coming from Europe on one side, and with those coming from the Syrian border on the other.
The EU28 did not, however, commit to an exact amount to be added to the initial €3 billion released in February to help the Syrian refugees currently in Turkey. Discussions are expected on this on Friday. The EU28 are nevertheless ready to contribute additional aid, once it has been seen that the first €3 billion has produced positive results.
Visas. The EU28 agreed on the fact that the visa liberalisation regime, which Ankara hopes to start enjoying from June, can only be granted if the 72 criteria set by the Commission are respected. In Merkel's view, the return of refugees to Turkey needs to be seen to be taking place as desired before beginning visa liberalisation for Turkish nationals. This may take several months, she warned. According to Michel, there is absolutely no question of softening the criteria. “The conditions will indeed have to remain very precise”, Hollande added.
EU membership. As regards Turkey's EU accession negotiation chapters, the European leaders contented themselves with strictly using the terms employed at the summit on 7 March, stating that the EU will prepare the decision for opening new chapters in the accession process as quickly as possible, based on the conclusions of the European Council in October 2015. Although the first draft conclusion mentioned that the decision would be prepared together with Turkey, the position agreed between the EU28 on Thursday evening no longer mentioned this. Furthermore, while Turkey insists on the opening of five specific chapters, not one is mentioned precisely.
The summit was also the opportunity for the leaders to express their fears about the appearance of new migration routes - especially between Libya and Italy. “There was attention from Italy and Malta on the issues relating to Africa, not only Libya. If we want to reduce uncontrolled immigration, the only thing to do is to boost investment in the countries of origin and to adopt a policy of paid return”, said Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. There is a “very serious risk, if the chaos continues (in Libya), that there will be movements of the population”, Hollande noted. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic with Camille-Cerise Gessant, Sophie Petitjean, Pascal Hansens and Mathieu Bion)