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EU hails progress in implementing refugee deal with Turkey

Xinhua, April 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

The European Union (EU) on Wednesday hailed "good progress" that has been made in the implementation of the EU-Turkey Agreement on managing the refugee crisis.

On March 18, EU Heads of state or government and Turkey agreed to end the irregular migration from Turkey to the EU and replace it instead with legal channels of resettlement of refugees to the EU.

"This new approach has started to deliver results, with a sharp decrease seen in the number of people irregularly crossing the Aegean from Turkey into Greece," the European Commission, or the EU executive body, said in a statement, while presenting a report on the implementation of the EU-Turkey Agreement.

The return of irregular migrants to Turkey started on April 4. So far, 325 irregular migrants arriving in Greece via Turkey after March 20 have been returned to Turkey in accordance with the agreement, the statement added.

The first resettlements from Turkey following the statement took place on April 4-5. So far, 103 Syrian refugees have been resettled to the EU under the 1:1 scheme.

"Standard Operating Procedures for resettlement have been developed in close cooperation between the Commission, Member States, EASO, UNHCR and Turkey, and now need to be finalized," the Commission said.

The Commission said it will present its third visa liberalization progress report for Turkey on May 4 and, and if Turkey takes the necessary measures to fulfill the remaining benchmarks, the report will be accompanied by a legislative proposal for transferring Turkey to the visa-free list.

Frontex has deployed 318 escort officers and 21 readmission experts to the Greek islands to support the return operations. In addition, a total of 25 Turkish liaison officers have been deployed in the Greek hotspots and five Greek liaison officers to arrival points in Turkey.

The Commission will present its second report on the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement in early June 2016.

In line with the EU-Turkey Statement, from March 20, 2016, all new irregular migrants and asylum seekers arriving from Turkey to the Greek islands and whose applications for asylum have been declared inadmissible should be returned to Turkey.

This temporary and extraordinary step is designed to end human suffering by showing clearly that there is no benefit in following the route offered by the smugglers, according to the EU.

Under the agreement, the EU will resettle a Syrian from Turkey to the EU for every Syrian returned to Turkey from the Greek islands. Priority is given to migrants who have not previously entered or tried to enter the EU irregularly, within the framework of the existing commitments. Endit