#EU-Turkey: Ten requirements for an EU-Turkey agreement on migratory flows

European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group Home Affairs Spokesman Timothy Kirkhope MEP has called for EU Leaders to go back to the drawing board on the EU-Turkey deal on the table.

On 15 March, he has set out ten requirements for any agreement reached during the upcoming European Summit on 17 and 18 March.

He said: "We seem to be breaking a number of our own rules and conventions, we are risking continued unsustainable levels of economic migration into the EU, we risk shifting pressures to other routes, and we are giving away six billion euros with no way of ensuring it will be used effectively. This is not a workable agreement."

The ten proposals:

1 - Clarity that only a finite number of asylum seekers can be accepted, and that the resettlement of refugees from Turkey is agreed with the full backing of all Member States, otherwise base the agreement on a voluntary system of resettlement by Member States. 

2 - Agree a set of guidelines on who does and doesn’t qualify for refugee status under the Turkish asylum system. Each application should be examined on an individual basis and on individual circumstances by the Turkish authorities, and not based on their nationality. 

3 - Any allocation of funds or increased funds to Turkey should be incrementally distributed, with an agreed and detailed plan on where the funds shall be spent, and future distribution of funds linked to performance of the system.

4 - Turkish authorities should agree to an independent UN based evaluation of the spending of EU funds with a report issued every three months.

5 - After six months a full impact assessment should be carried out by the European Commission in cooperation with the UN to assess the effectiveness of the scheme, the quality of detention facilities, and the impact on fundamental rights.

6 - Establish an EU – Turkey programme for integration of refugees in Turkey, including arrangements on access to education and the jobs market. 

7 - Adopt a detailed roadmap on how Turkey can improve security, and their fight against terrorism, organised crime and corruption; and crucially how they intend to prevent, investigate and put in place strong criminal penalties for human traffickers.

8 - Turkey should provide for the collection of fingerprints of asylum seekers, and enter them into the EU’s EURODAC fingerprint system.

9 - Visa liberalisation is not a tool of persuasion or negotiation. Visa liberalisation and EU membership are a consequence of meeting the requirements as set out in our own laws and Treaties. Any suggestion of advancing the visa policy should be a consequence of significant improvements in the requirements as set out in Turkey’s visa liberalisation roadmap.

10 - An emergency brake should be built in to any deal with Turkey and activated if certain conditions are breached, or identified following an assessment by the European Commission. Such breaches would include:  an unmanageable number of persons having to be resettled within the EU, Human rights violations by Turkey of those being returned, and any misuse of the funds given by the EU. 

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