Türkiye failing to respect EU-Turkey Statement
3.2.2024
Priority question for written answer P-000364/2024
to the Commission
Rule 138
Jean-Paul Garraud (ID)
The EU-Turkey Statement, which entered into force on 20 March 2016, provides for the return to Türkiye of any person who arrives in Greece without having applied for asylum or whose application has been rejected. In return, the EU allocated billions of euros to Ankara, and pledged for every returnee to ‘relocate’ a refugee from Türkiye to a Member State.
According to a report issued in November 2023[1], some 40 000 Syrian refugees have been resettled from Türkiye to the EU, while only 2 140 irregular migrants and rejected asylum seekers have been returned.
The same report recommends that EU Member States ‘step up resettlements from Türkiye to the Union’, activate ‘the Voluntary Humanitarian Admission Scheme’ and ‘facilitate access to visa applications’.
- 1.Will the Commission insist that Türkiye finally honour its commitment and thus take back 37 860 migrants before hosting more?
- 2.Can it explain how the 40 000 refugees have been distributed in the EU?
- 3.Is it still planning to offer legal pathways to the EU, as it recently proposed in its action plan for the Eastern Mediterranean migration route[2]?
Submitted:3.2.2024
- [1] https://neighbourhood-enlargement.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2023-11/Joint%20Communication%20to%20the%20European%20Council%20-%20State%20of%20play%20of%20EU-Turkiye%20political%2C%20economic%20and%20trade%20relations.pdf
- [2] https://france.representation.ec.europa.eu/informations/la-commission-presente-un-plan-daction-de-lue-pour-la-route-de-la-mediterranee-orientale-2023-10-18_fr#:~:text=Le%20plan%20d%27action%20sur,route%20migratoire%20vers%20l%27UE.