The EU should continue its dialogue with Turkey to de-escalate the migration situation at the Greek-Turkish border, MEPs said in a debate on 10 March.
Thousands of migrants and asylum seekers have entered Greece via the Turkish borders since a little more than a week ago Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan broke a 2016 migration pact with the EU by opening his country’s frontiers with Europe. Under the deal, the EU promised to pay Turkey 鈧�6 billion in return for the country curbing migration flows.
MEPs debated the situation at the Greek-Turkish border and the EU鈥檚 common response to it with Ylva Johansson, the commissioner responsible for home affairs, and Nikolina Brnjac, representing the Croatian presidency, on Tuesday afternoon in Brussels.
鈥淥ver the last few days, we have seen the very dangerous attitude of the president of Turkey using vulnerable people in order to benefit himself and his politics,鈥� said Spanish S&D member Iratxe Garc铆a P茅rez .
German EPP member Manfred Weber called for a dialogue to start with Turkey to 鈥渄e-escalate the situation at the Turkish-Greek border鈥�.
Commissioner Johansson agreed: 鈥淲e must continue our dialogue. We must de-escalate the rhetoric and the increased tension. That involves finding a path forward with Turkey. The lines of communication with Turkey remain open and active.鈥�
Some Parliament members said the EU should use the current situation to put a聽聽back on the EU鈥檚 agenda. Others wanted to revise the deal with Turkey.
While acknowledging that 鈥渢he current situation at our external borders is not acceptable,鈥� Council representative Brnjac said: 鈥淥ur expectation is that Turkey will continue the full implementation of the 2016 joint statement.鈥�
Johansson also emphasised that the current EU-Turkey statement remains valid.
鈥淭he situation at the European external border towards Turkey is worrying, but I also must say that this is not 2015,鈥� the commissioner said, referring to the year聽.
鈥淲e are much, much better prepared now to manage the situation because we know better what to expect,鈥� she said, noting that the EU has reinforced its agencies such as the coast guard agency Frontex, the聽聽and that she sees more willingness to cooperate among member states.
In November 2017 the Parliament adopted a resolution calling for an overhaul of the common rules of asylum, in order to increase the EU鈥檚 preparedness for receiving migrants and asylum seekers and to ensure greater solidarity and a fairer sharing of responsibility among EU countries.
Last year MEPs also approved a new law聽聽to ensure a better protection of the EU’s external borders.
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