Brussels, 04/04/2016, (Agence Europe) - The agreement between the EU and Turkey came into force officially on Monday 4 April, the European Commission has announced. This was at the same time as the first return of migrants to Turkey who arrived in Greece after 20 March, when the first resettlements of refugees in the EU have took place.
Under the terms of the agreement that was reached by the EU and Turkey on 18 March makes provision, Turkey will take back both all illegal migrants who have managed to reach Greece but who have no right to international protection and those who are not claiming asylum along with asylum seekers, including Syrians, who could be given protection in Turkey. The European Commission was unable to say whether there were asylum seekers among those returned to Turkey. The media spoke of Pakistanis and Bangladeshis who are deemed to be economic migrants.
Several hundred migrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh were due to be sent back to Turkey on Monday, under the terms of the bilateral readmission agreement between Greece and Turkey. European Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos was in Ankara on Monday 4 April to discuss the detail of this agreement and was due to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and the foreign affairs and home affairs ministers.
Several EU member states have said that they will resettle Syrian refugees, with Finland, for example, taking 11 Syrians on 4 April. Germany was due to take in 32 on the same day and a further group of Syrian refugees is due to be resettled in the Netherlands on 5 April, the Commission said. These resettlements form part of the offer of 72,000 places proposed by the member states on 18 March, an offer which includes the remaining 18,000 places from the first resettlement programme and an additional reserve of 54,000 places, deriving from the refugee relocation programme.
On Monday 4 April, the Commission was also keen to highlight the assurances given by both Greece and Turkey as to the legality of the agreement. On Friday evening, the Greek parliament adopted the legislative changes needed and Turkey has announced that all Syrian refugees returned to Turkey would have their protection reinstated, the Commission said. Turkey has also given assurances that all persons sent back from Greece who need protection will have access to asylum procedures. The Commission stated that Turkey will make the necessary legislative adjustments for this to occur.
Since 18 March, Greece has returned 147 people who had no right to international protection, though these people arrived before 20 March, and deployed 1,500 experts on its islands to implement the new agreement with Turkey.
The Commission indicated on Monday 4 April that economic migrants and those in need of international protection would be returned by ferry. Frontex has so far chartered three ferries and 256 officers to carry out this work. Over the course of the weekend, Frontex deployed 206 escort officers to implement the agreement and EASO 32 officers and 5 permanent staff, the Commission said.
To date, Frontex has received offers from 21 member states of 44 readmission experts and 702 escort officers (the numbers initially requested being 50 and 1,500 respectively), a Commission press release announced.
In terms of the relocation of refugees who arrived before 20 March, the Commission indicated in a table that 1,100 people (519 from Greece and 581 from Italy) have so far been shared among the member states. A total of 106,000 people are due to be relocated over two years.
Over recent days, hundreds of people have continued to arrive in Greece despite the agreement that was meant to deter migrants. The numbers arriving are, however, much lower than at the start of the year. On 3 April, 200 people arrived, compared with 766 on 29 March. According to Commission figures, 500 arrived on 2 April and 566 on 1 April. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)