Roundup: EU-Turkey agreement seeds doubt at European Parliament

The European Parliament (EP) held a long and spirited debate with the presidents of the European Council and the European Commission, concerning the mechanisms and the financing of the EU-Turkey agreement made in regards to the refugee crisis, in the EP's plenary session here on Wednesday,

During the debate, multiple criticisms were raised within the Strasbourg hemicycle regarding the nature of the compromise found on March 17 and 18 between European heads of state and government and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmed Davutoglu.

President of the European Council Donald Tusk and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker traveled to Strasbourg on Wednesday to plead for members of European Parliament (MEP)'s support on the agreement with Turkey, which even its proponents have described as "not perfect."

"The solutions we are putting into practice are not ideal and will not end our work. Also, the deal with Turkey is not perfect and we are fully aware of its risks and its weaknesses," admitted Tusk, while warning MEPs it was "dangerous to believe that there was an ideal and one hundred percent effective solution," and asking them to give up seeking "the holy grail."

The agreement, which entered into force on March 20, outlines new mechanisms to help stem the flow of migrants to Greece coming from Turkey, and notably includes the controversial "1 : 1 scheme," where one irregular migrant will be returned to Turkey from Greece in exchange for one Syrian being accepted into the European Union from among refugees on Turkish soil.

"Since April 4, 325 irregular migrants have been sent back to Turkey and 79 Syrian refugees have been accepted into Europe," Juncker reported to MEPs, figures which, much like the financing of the transfer mechanism, far from satisfied the concerns of many in the parliament.

While some of the main political groups, such as the European People's Party (EPP/Right) saw the agreement as the best means of "introducing order in the process," representatives of the Greens and the United Left questioned whether the EU was submitting too much to political pressure from Turkey. In a rare occasion, far right and euroskeptic political groups voiced their agreement with their colleagues on the other side of the aisle.

Certain financial provisions of the agreement were also under scrutiny, including an additional 3 billion euros(3.39 billion U.S. dollars) of aid for Turkey for the handling refugees, on top of 3 billion allocated in a prior agreement, leaving many MEPs questioning how the money would be used.

Other aspects of the agreement, such as visa liberalization for Turkish citizens wanting to travel to Europe, and renewed negotiations for Turkish accession to the EU, are among the themes currently crystalizing discord within the EP and elsewhere.

Following the debate, MEPs are scheduled to discuss Turkey's 2015 reform efforts toward EU membership with European Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn on Wednesday, with a vote on a resolution set for Thursday.

Numerous voices called for comprehensive reforms of the Dublin rules, which currently determine how asylum requests are handled in the EU, with leader of the Socialists Gianni Pittella calling it an "historic opportunity" for reform in the direction of a "genuinely common European asylum policy."

"If you want to fight the smugglers, there is only one way, you have to give the possibility for legal migration to Europe," declared Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the Liberal group (ALDE/left), while also expressing his doubts about the effectiveness of the EU-Turkey agreement.

Without a wide range of other, coordinated measures, starting with the creation and implementation of a European Coast and Border Guard agency, the agreement with Turkey risks heading straight for failure, the Liberal group indicated. Enditem