The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced several concrete measures – additional financial resources and reinforcements in men and equipment – to help Greece monitor its border with Turkey on Tuesday 3 March, during a field visit alongside the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and the Presidents of the European Council, the Council of the EU, and the European Parliament, Charles Michel, Andrej Plenković and David Sassoli, respectively.
Among the measures announced, Ms von der Leyen mentioned additional financial assistance of €700 million, of which €350 million can be directly mobilised.
As Greece has activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, this will mean sending tents, medical teams, medicines and blankets to the Greco-Turkish border.
The European agency Frontex also confirmed on Tuesday, after a meeting of its management board, that it will send reinforcements to the Greco-Turkish border with 100 additional officers, in addition to the 530 officers already there, who will be deployed at the sea and land borders. In addition, 2 helicopters, 1 aircraft, 6 coastal patrol vessels and 1 supply vessel will be sent to Greece.
The Turkish government has decided to temporarily stop applying the EU/Turkey Declaration of March 2016, in which Turkey, in exchange for money, undertook to monitor the departure of migrants to Greece.
Reacting to these events, Mr Mitsotakis considered that this was a “violation” of the 2016 agreement by Ankara and a carefully organised operation by the Turkish authorities “to promote its own geopolitical objectives”. Turkey, he said, had organised and encouraged the departure of thousands of migrants to Greece, who, according to him, were not people fleeing the war in Syria, but who were currently living “safely” in Turkey.
“Don’t try to come to Greece illegally. You won’t make it!”, the Greek said to the candidates at the start.
Without criticising Turkey directly, Ms von der Leyen said that one could “not use people as a means to achieve one’s goals”, while asserting that Turkey was “not the enemy”.
The Commission President also thanked Greece for being the “shield” of the EU – she used the Greek word, editor’s note – but said nothing about the Greek decision to suspend the lodging of asylum applications on its territory for 1 month. A controversial announcement which the Commission is still analysing legally.
Mr Michel did suggest that Greece should respect “international law and human rights” and deal with the situation appropriately, but he also urged Turkey to continue to respect its commitments and implement the 2016 agreement.
As for Parliament President David Sassoli, he was the only one to call for a response based on solidarity, notably through the reception of unaccompanied minors stranded at the border. And to advocate the finalisation of the reform of the European asylum system, which is still blocked in the EU Council.
For the Italian Social Democrat, the situation would be much more manageable if EU leaders had been able to agree on the asylum package and a recast of the Dublin Regulation which sets out responsibilities between Member States in asylum applications.
He was reinforced by Mr Mitsotakis, who deplored the time lost since 2015 and reminded his European counterparts that they could not ignore this reform, which should be based on migration “burden-sharing”.
Extraordinary ministerial meeting in Brussels
On Wednesday 4 March, EU interior ministers are also expected to formulate operational assistance to Greece, whether this is equipment or police forces for certain Member States.
Bulgaria, which shares a land border with Turkey, has not been forgotten. European officials were due to visit the country on Tuesday.
For the Interior Ministers, as agreed by the Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) on the evening of Monday 2 March, it will be a matter of sending a strong message to Turkey that the 2016 declaration must be implemented, in the form of a declaration or conclusions.
The solidarity angle and a welcome offer was not raised on Monday evening and, at this stage, should not be included in the Ministers’ response, as migration flows at the EU’s borders are not of a magnitude that would justify such a response.
The national ambassadors will meet again on Wednesday morning. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)