Saturday 18 March marks the first anniversary of the agreement – which, formally, is no more than a “declaration” – between the EU and Turkey to manage the migration crisis. The agreement has brought a drastic reduction in the numbers of migrants arriving in Greece but also stern criticism which has not abated over the ethics of the matter.
The agreement allows not only those who have no claim to international protection but also potential asylum seekers who could be protected in the EU to be sent back to Turkey. In return, the member states have pledged to take in one Syrian refugee who has already been granted international protection status in Turkey for every so-called “irregular” migrant returned to Turkey. It was German Chancellor Angela Merkel who devised this system at the start of 2016 and convinced her partners to adopt it.
The framework for cooperation with Turkey had already been under negotiation since halfway through 2015, at the height of the migration crisis. The agreement that was finally reached is not typical of traditional international agreements and does not have any specific legal form. It is for this reason, moreover, that it cannot be referred to the European courts (see EUROPE 11735). It has, however, been the means of reducing the numbers of people arriving in Greece from 10,000 per day at the end of 2015 to a few dozen per day in 2017.
The European Commission regularly repeats in its periodic reports that the agreement is working well. It still lays as much emphasis on the progress that remains to be made by Greece to return more irregular migrants. Figures given on 14 March reveal that 916 people have been returned from Greece to Turkey under the terms of the agreement. Hitherto, no asylum seekers whose claims have been judged to be valid have been sent back to Turkey, only those whose asylum requests have been rejected. Since 4 April 2016, a total of 1,504 returns have been carried out. Under the agreement, member states have also resettled over 4,000 people already in Turkey.
The Commission continues to finance projects to help refugees in Turkey under the €3 billion facility for 2016 and 2017 that was put in place as part of the agreement. In the first year, €2.2 billion was allocated and 39 projects approved, receiving a total sum of €1.5 billion.
On this first anniversary, the Commission has played things relatively low-key, with political relations between the EU and Ankara currently at a very low ebb. Tensions have grown between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a number of EU member states, in particular the Netherlands and Germany, resulting from events relating to the reform of the Turkish constitution which will increase the powers of the president. The Commission, nonetheless, stated in a press release on Friday 17 March that the agreement had produced tangible results and was a key part of European policy on migration.
A number of humanitarian organisations and some political groups in the European Parliament have criticised the agreement and the Greens/EFA Groups has called for it to be suspended. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), and Oxfam said on Thursday 16 March that the EU-Turkey deal signed a year ago “has turned Greece into a testing ground for European Union policies that are eroding the rights of refugees and asylum seekers, and expose people to risk and abuse”.
For other NGOs, Turkey is neither a stable nor a safe country for refugees and asylum seekers. Refugees have been abandoned in unsafe conditions with only very limited access to work, education and healthcare, with children even being subjected to forced labour, say Amnesty International, Belgian not-for-profit organisation CIRÉ and CNCD-11.11.11. They are also criticise the Turkish authorities for sending back huge numbers of Syrians trying to flee the war raging in their country. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)