Off the wire
• Madagascar confirms UN chief's May visit  • South African stock market closes positive as oil prices rise  • Chinese loans power Kenya's progress, not burden on citizens: scholar  • Black rhino killed by poachers in Kenya sanctuary  • Roundup: S. African pledges to support Chinese-funded automobile plant  • Turkish military kills 32 IS militants in northern Iraq  • Interview: BiH, China should expand ties, deepen understanding: Presidency Chairman  • Iraqi speaker suspends parliament sessions indefinitely  • 3 police killed, 8 injured in Egypt's Sinai attack  • Nigeria's cricket team begins training ahead of world championship  
You are here: 　 Home

PACE members doubt effectiveness of EU-Turkey deal on migrants

Xinhua, April 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

An address on the refugee crisis, delivered Tuesday in Strasbourg by the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, received a cool reception by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council Europe (PACE), meeting for its spring plenary session.

In the somewhat sparsely filled hemicycle of the pan-European organization, Juncker attempted to plead in favor of the migratory policy of the European Union (EU).

"The European Commission has done everything in its power to bring assistance to the refugees. The agreement reached between the EU and Turkey make up one part of the solution. The principle of non-refoulement will be respected," he affirmed.

Many PACE members - who represent national parliaments and legislatures of the 47 member states of the Council of Europe (CoE), of which Turkey is one -nevertheless did not hesitate to express serious doubts on the effectiveness and the soundness of the compromised agreement reached on March 18 between Ankara and European leaders.

This agreement provides for the return to Turkey of irregular migrants arriving in the Greek Islands, including asylum seekers. In return, for every Syrian returned to Turkey, the EU must resettle another Syrian from Turkish soil. The EU also promised an aid of 3 billion euros(3.41 billion U.S. dollars) for Ankara in addition to the 3 billion euros EU had earlier promised to assist in the handling of refugees.

Jean-Claude Juncker was notably questioned by former PACE president Anne Brasseur.

"Who profits from the agreement between the EU and Turkey?" openly asked the Socialist group, for its part, while the European People's Party (EPP/Right) demanded more "pragmatism" in the implementation of an agreement which has put the divisions and schisms into sharp relief.

From one end to the other of the hemicycle concerns resounded regarding the potential consequences of the EU's choices in terms of its migration policy. The rise of nationalist and populist movements on the European continent, where barriers have been erected along many internal borders, have allowed the growth of ever-growing threats to the survival of the Schengen Zone and the EU.

"The EU, for many European citizens, is perceived more and more as part of the problem. What do you intend to do?", a parliamentarian of the extreme left asked the President of the European Commission. Enditem