To block EU-Turkey migrant deal

The new EU-Turkey meeting, in Brussels, in the presence of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, was decided last Monday, March 7, when the 28-member block met with the Turkish side, in an effort to strengthen their cooperation on the migration and refugee crisis.

The EU's proposed agreement with Turkey to deal with the refugee crisis still needs to be "rebalanced" before it will be acceptable to all countries in the 28-member bloc at a summit later this week, European Council president Donald Tusk said Tuesday.

Their comments were broadcast live by TRT station.

The opening of five Turkish EU accession negotiation chapters is part of a package deal aimed at encouraging Turkey to contain and even reverse the waves of Syrian refugees and other migrants reaching Europe from its shores.

Nicos Anastasiades said he would not agree to opening new "chapters" in Turkey's accession process unless Ankara agreed to terms such as recognizing the Greek Cypriot administration and opening Turkish ports.

Macedonian army spokesman Toni Janevski told AFP the migrants were returned to Greece "without any incident or use of force".

In a visit to Cyprus, Tusk said the draft accord between Turkey and the European Union last week had been engineered by Germany and the Netherlands.

That is due to Turkey's refusal to recognise the Nicosia government of the island, which has been divided since the Turkish invasion of 1974.

Mr Tusk told reporters he had not come to Nicosia to "exert pressure on Cyprus" and he understood that talks on a settlement in Cyprus were at an important juncture.

Manuel Valls, the French prime minister, told parliament that it was "essential" to work with Turkey, but cautioned "there must not be the slightest blackmail".

"The EU's original proposal to Turkey was for three billion euros, now Turkey is asking six billion euros and there is talk... of about up to 20 billion euros", he said, "Impolite people like myself call that blackmail".

Under proposals to save the plan, teams of Greek judges will have to assess migrants' asylum applications individually. Member states such as Greece, where arrivals are highest, are struggling to cope.

European leaders are still hopeful that a deal with Turkey can be reached, and the EU said on Tuesday that it had pushed back plans to overhaul the bloc's asylum system until an accord is place.

"The risk is that if, for the sake of expediency, the European Union defaults on its human rights obligations, then the reputation as being one of the principle standard-bearers upholding human rights around the world would be affected", he said.

On Tuesday, some 1,500 migrants who managed to cross into Macedonia despite the border being closed were sent back to Greece.

Only 3% of the more than a million migrants arriving in Italy and Greece in 2015 were returned to their countries of origin or relocated across the EU as refugees, figures released by the European Commission today (10 February) revealed.
Source: AFP