The European Commission said on Friday 28 February that the European Union was "better equipped than ever" to deal with a possible new migration crisis, after Turkey hinted that it might break the agreement it reached with the EU in March 2016 in response to an attack on its soldiers in Syria (see other news).
This better preparation is partly linked to the hotspots, according to Adalbert Jahnz, spokesperson for the Commissioner for European Affairs, Ylva Johansson. Despite being much criticised by associations in the field, these migrant reception and identification centres were set up in Greece in the wake of the 2015 migration crisis.
On Friday, Greece announced that it had doubled its surveillance patrols at its land and sea borders to monitor the flow of migrants. It also reportedly closed the land border in the Evros area, according to local media reports.
"Greece does not bear any responsibility for the tragic events in Syria and will not suffer the consequences of decisions taken by others. I have informed the European Union of the situation", commented Greek Prime Minister Kyriákos Mitsotákis on his Twitter account earlier today.
According to Greek media reports, several dozen people, including Syrians having taken refuge in Turkey, had already arrived on Friday morning at the Evros land border or in Greek islands such as Lesbos, where the Greek population is demonstrating against the construction of new reception camps.
At this stage, the Commission is of the opinion that "the declaration with Turkey still stands", as Ankara has made "no official announcement" on any development of its position, commented Peter Stano, spokesman for High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell. And "we expect Turkey to meet its commitments", he added. Later in the day, Borrell said he had received "assurances" from Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu that "Turkey remains bound by the EU/Turkey Joint Declaration".
According to the agreement of March 2016 (see EUROPE 11514/1), Turkey must, in exchange, in particular, for substantial financial aid (6 billion euros until the end of 2020), contain the flow of migrants to Greece and take care of refugees, especially Syrians. It must also agree to receive back on its territory those people, particularly Syrian nationals, who still arrive in Greece and deal with their asylum applications. But this 'returns' component to Turkey has never worked well. The EU, for its part, has also undertaken to resettle Syrian refugees in Turkey on its territory.
In recent years, the Turkish authorities have repeatedly threatened the EU with the suspension of the agreement, notably in response to its disputes with certain member countries and the fact that the money promised was not being paid in full. At this stage, EUR 4.7 billion has been contracted and EUR 3.2 billion disbursed. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)