EU summit

At the EU summit last night, EU heads of state and government committed to an agreement with Turkey on the response to the refugee crisis. The agreement would include €3bn in funding for Turkey, a simplified visa procedure and the opening of further chapters in Turkey's EU accession negotiations. However, the summit ended with no agreement on a timeframe or the finer details. Commenting on the conclusions of the summit, Greens/EFA co-presidents Rebecca Harms and Philippe Lamberts said:

"This summit has again revealed the difficulty for EU governments to find a common response to the refugee crisis. The most important issue, namely how to permanently share the responsibility for distributing refugees, has again been postponed. There is, however, consensus on strengthening border protection and ensuring refugees either stay in Turkey or can be sent back there. While it is correct to try and improve the situation of refugees outside the EU, this cannot mean that the EU abdicates the responsibility to humanely respond to the crisis, both based on its values and its relative economic strength. The fact that a refugee has been shot at the Bulgarian border should act as warning to the EU governments.

"While the new understanding that the EU and Turkey need each other is a step in the right direction, it is wrong for EU leaders to remain silent on the worrying escalation in Turkey. This lack of criticism, combined with the promises to Erdogan in this agreement, risk creating the impression that the EU supports the irresponsible politics of the Erdogan government just two weeks before the elections. This will also deprive the EU of leverage in trying to convince the AKP to return to the democratic process.

The EU Member States should not make Erdogan into their chief border guard.”